
Book 



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UNDJlRGrEOUND RUSSIA 



REVOLUTIOXARY PROFILES AND 



SKETCHES FROM LIFE 



BY 



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STEPNIAK 



POEMEELY EDITOB OF ' ZEMLIA I VOLIA ' (LAND AND LIBEETX) 






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WITH A PREFACE ly PETEB LAYROFF 



TEANSI.ATED FKOM THE ITALIAN 




NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1883 




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PEEFACE. 



The Socialist and Eeyolutionary moyement in Eussia 
could not fail to attract the attention of Western Europe. 
It is only natural, therefore, that in every European 
language a somewhat extensive literature should be 
found upon this subject. The object of some of these 
works is simply to relate facts ; others seek to penetrate 
deeper, so as to discover the cause of the movement in 
question. I take no account of an entire branch of this 
literature, the novels, the romances, and the narratives, 
in which the authors, endeavouring to reproduce in an 
agreeable form the events and the types of the Nihilist 
world, strive to excite the imagination of the reader. 

It must be confessed that, for the most part, this liter- 
ature has not the slightest value. The authors know 
nothing of the facts related by them, having taken them 
at second or third hand, without the possibility of veri- 
fying the authenticity of the sources from which they 
■ derive their ideas ; they do not even know the country 
of which they speak, the information published in the 
European languages being very scanty ; and finally, they 
have not the least knowledge of the men who have played 
such prominent and important parts in that great drama. 



Yl PEEFACE. 

the Kussian moyement. It is, therefore, very difficult 
to indicate, among the books written by foreigners ujDon 
JSTihilism, any which give a tolerably truthful idea of 
the subject as a whole, or of any of its details. 

I could not point out even a single work of this 
kind which has avoided great errors and absurdities. 

But even the works hitherto published on this sub- 
ject in the Russian language, wiiich are very few in 
number and almost unknown in Europe, are far indeed 
from containing sufficient information ; and for these 
reasons. 

The authors who write for the Russian press, that is 
to say, under the Imperial rod, are compelled from mere 
considerations of personal security to weigh every word, 
every sentence, that issues from their pens. In under- 
taking, therefore, to write wpon Nihilism, they know 
that they must pass over in silence many questions which 
relate both to the movement itself, and to the Russian 
political and social system which is the cause of it. 
Moreover, they are compelled to conceal the fact that 
they have ever known any of the principal leaders, and 
to represent these men, not as they are or were, but as 
they must perforce appear in a work written by a faith- 
ful subject of the Czar. Such a subject, it is only too 
well known, is liable to exile or transportation for any 
little imprudent word that may escape him. Moreover, 
everything that has been published in Russia upon 
Nihilism, with scarcely any exception, has been written 
by its furious enemies, by those who conscientiously con- 



PEEFACE. Vil 

sider it a horrible crime, or a monstrous madness. These 
authors, from their very position, either did not see, or 
would not see, what really caused the deyelopment of 
Nihilism. Of the Nihilists themselves they knew noth- 
ing, except from the judicial reports and the speeches of 
the Public Prosecutors, and had seen them, if at all, 
only in the prisoners' dock. Everything that has been 
written upon Nihilism in Eussia itself is therefore of 
very little value, either from the historical or the philo- 
sophical point of view. Such absurdities as the works of 
foreigners on this subject are full of are certainly not to 
be found in them, but voluntary reticence and voluntary 
errors abound, and at the same time there is no lack 
even of unmistakable blunders respecting the lives of the 
Revolutionists themselves. 

Something more might be hoped for from the par- 
tisans of the movement, who are to be found, some in 
Russia and some abroad as exiles. In fact, the publica- 
tions of the Revolutionists which have been issued dur- 
ing the last three years abroad and from the secret press 
of St. Petersburg, present a rich source of information 
respecting the modern Revolutionary movement, but all 
these materials, being in the Russian or Ukrainian lan- 
guage, have scarcely contributed anything to the works 
written in other languages, and have remained for the 
most part unknown to Europe. 

The Russian exiles have very rarely undertaken 
works intended to explain to the European public the 
history and the causes of the Russian Revolutionary 



■Vlll PREFACE. 

moTement ; and eyen wlien they haye done so, they 
haye confined themselyes to mere pamphlets of little 
moment which threw light only on certain aspects of 
the moyement, or dealt with entirely special questions. 
As for the few European scholars who know the 
Eussian language, the materials furnished by the 
Eeyolutionary press are quite insufficient for them, and 
do not preserye them from great blunders. A perfect 
knowledge of Kussian and of the condition of the Eus- 
sian people is assumed, which it is all but impossible 
for a foreigner to possess. The progress of the Eeyo- 
lutionary moyement must haye been followed, too, 
step by step, and on the spot, in order to understand, 
not only the rapidity of its deyelopment, but the sub- 
stitution, within a yery brief period, of other theoretical 
and practical questions for those formerly in yogue. 

The questions which diyided the party into yarious 
groups entirely disappeared in 1880. The year 1878 
introduced into the Eeyolutionary moyement a crisis 
that led to a complete change, both in the diyision of 
the party into yarious sections and in their respectiye 
relations. The modes of action were changed ; the 
reyolutionary type was changed. The defects and the 
yirtues so characteristic of the most prominent persons 
in the moyement a few years ago, gaye place to totally 
different defects and yirtues which characterise the 
Eussian Eeyolutionary moyement of modern days. 

Thus, eyen the yery persons who had taken an actiye 
part in the moyement, but had left the country for 



PEEFACE. IX 

some time, or had applied themselves to some special 
and exclusive object, even those persons are liable to 
commit grave errors, both in their views npon the 
actual movement and in their predictions respecting 
the future. 

Only a man who for many years has been present 
in the ranks, who has taken a direct part in the 
various phases through which the Russian Revolution- 
ary movement has passed, who has intimately known 
the persons who have appeared during those phases 
(for, although included within the period of a single 
decade, they are notwithstanding of an entirely differ- 
ent nature), only such a man, if he undertook to relate 
what he had himself seen, could give to European 
readers a sufficiently truthful idea of the form and 
substance of the Russian Revolutionary movement. 

Of such men among our party, who possess, more- 
over, the talent of expressing their thoughts in a good 
literary form, there are but few. 

I was greatly pleased therefore to learn that one of 
these few men had undertaken to present, in a series 
of animated pictures, the men and the incidents of the 
Russian Revolutionary movement, in the various phases 
of which he had taken a direct part. 

I remember with what enthusiasm the young men in 
the printing office of the ' Onward ' in London heard 
some pages of his youthful writings read. Others would 
relate various episodes of his Odyssey as a propagandist 
among the peasants, when that propaganda attracted 



X PEEFACE. 

the greater part of the Eevolutionary forces without dis- 
tinction of party. He was one of the principal founders 
of the Russian Eeyoiutionary press, when, the inade- 
quacy of the printing presses in operation abroad being 
recognised, the Revolutionary party established its 
organs in the Tcry capital of the Czar. Among the 
names of the most energetic actors in the principal 
phases which the Russian movement passed through, 
the Revolutionists always mention the name of him who 
appears before the European public under the pseu- 
donym of Stepniak. I say the European and not the 
Italian public, because I am persuaded that the book 
whicli Stepniak has published in Italian will speedily 
find translators in other languages. 

The European public will at last have a faitliful 
and animated picture of that movement, in which, on 
the one hand we see the masses deprived of all political 
life, crushed by the slavery of ages, pillaged by the 
Government, and ruined by economical dependence on 
the governing classes, but who preserve notwithstanding 
in Northern Russia the Rural Commune, and the pro- 
found and steadfast conviction that the land ought to 
belong to them, the cultivators, and that sooner or 
later the day will come for the 'division of the land ;' 
and who in Southern Russia maintain the traditions of 
the autonomy of the Cossack Commune. On the other 
hand we have, as the offspring of Despotism, the vile 
herd, devoid of every sentiment of duty, who are capable 
of sacrificing to their own interests, or even personal 



PKEFACE. XI 

caprices, the interests of the State, and of the people ; 
who in the bureaucracy reyeal themselves by shameful 
acts of peculation and yenality, without a parallel except 
in Eastern Asia, and unsurpassed in any age or in any 
country ; and among the business classes are Bourse 
speculators, and swindlers who yield in nothing to the 
most infamous in both worlds. Between these two 
social strata we see a fresh group of combatants appear, 
who, for ten years have astounded all Europe by their 
energy and devotion, as the successors of the literary 
and political opposition of all classes; of the new 
Radical writers ; and of the first apostles of Socialism 
in Russia, Herzen and Cerniscevsky. 

Hundreds and hundreds of these men, themselves 
the offspring of privilege, go ^ among the people,' carry- 
ing with them the Grospel of Socialism, the very object 
of which is the destruction of privileges, the privileges 
of the classes from vrhich they have sprung. Every 
fresh trial only displays more clearly their heroism 
and their historical mission. The Russian G-overnment 
has recourse to extreme measures of repression. It 
places all Russia under a state of siege, and covers it 
with gibbets. It almost forces harmless agitators to 
take up deadly weapons and commence the Terrorist 
struggle which still continues ; and certainly no one can 
say that the victory has remained with the Government, 
if the result of its measures has been the slaying of an 
Emperor, the voluntary seclusion of his successor, and the 
universal disruption of the entire Russian social edifice. 



Xll PREFACE. 

But another fact is perhaps even more significant ; 
the movement has lasted only ten years, and the strug- 
gle with the Government commenced only five years 
ago ; but already an important change has become 
apparent in the constitution of the militant party. The 
majority of the prisoners whom we see before the 
tribunals in the trials of the Terrorists are no longer 
apostles who impart ideas to the people developed in 
an atmosphere not their own ; they are men sprung 
from the people themselves, upon whom it used to be 
said, until lately, the Revolutionary propaganda and 
agitation had taken no hold. 

The Russian Socialist and Revolutionary party is very 
young, but it has, notwithstanding, succeeded in con- 
quering a place in history. 

The readers of the work of Stepniak will henceforth 
know what were the elements that gave to these com- 
batants the strength to transform themselves, in these 
later days, into a party which can call the future its 
own. The new elements, sprung from the people which 
will come forth and join their ranks, are a guarantee of 

this. 

P. Lavroff. 

London : March 4, 1883. 



li 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

The Propaganda ........ 13 

The Terrorism .30 



REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

Eevolutionary Profiles 45 

Jacob Stefanovic 48 

Demetrius Clemens . ' . . . . . . .59 

Valerian Ossinsky 70 

Peter Krapotkine 83 

Demetrius Lisogub 93 

Jessy Helfman 101 

Vera Zassulic 106 

Sophia Perovskaia 115 



REVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

The Moscow Attempt, I. A Band of Hermits . . . 137 
" " " II. The Mine . . . .141 

Two Escapes 148 

xiii 



% 



XIV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Ukrivateli (The Concealers) 166 

The Secret Press . . . 185 

A Trip to St. Petersburg 196 

Conclusion 244 



Letter of the Executive Committee to Alexander 111. 265 



INTRODUCTIOK 



INTRODUCTION, 



I. 



TuRGHEKEFF, the novelist, who will certainly live in 
his writings for many generations, has rendered him- 
self immortal by a single word. It was he who invented 
'Nihilism.* (At first the word was used in a con- 
temptuous sense, but afterwards was accepted from ' 
party pride by those against whom it was employed, as 
so frequently has occurred in history.) 

There would be no need to mention this but for the 
fact that in Europe the party called by this name was 
not that thus called in Russia, but another completely 
different. 

(^The genuine Mhilism was a philosophical and liter- 
ary movement, which flourished in the first decade after 
the Emancipation of the Serfs, that is to say, between 
1860 and 1870. It is now absolutely extinct, and only 
a few traces are left of it, which are rapidly disappear- 
ingj for, with the feverish life of the last few years, a 
decade in Russia may really be considered as a period of 
at least from thirty to fifty years. 

Nihilism was a struggle for the emancipation of in- 
telligence from every kind of dependence, and it advanced ^ 

3 



4 INTKODUCTION. 

side bj side with that for the emancipation of the labor- 
ing classes from serfdom. 

The fundamental principle of Nihilism, properly so- 

' called, was absolute individualism. It was the negation, 
in the name of individual liberty, of all the obligations 
imposed upon the individual by society, by family life, 
and by religion. Nihilism was a passionate and power- 
ful reaction, not against political despotism, but against 
the moral despotism that weighs upon the private and 
inner life of the individual. ^ 

But it must be confessed that our predecessors, at least 
in the earlier days, introduced into this highly pacific 
struggle the same spirit of rebellion and almost the same 
fanaticism that characterises the present movement. I 
will here indicate the general character of this struggle, 

\ because it is really a prelude to the great drama, the last 
act of which is being enacted in the Empire of the Night. 
The first battle was fought in the domain of religion. 
But this was neither long nor obstinate. It was gained, 
so to speak, in a single assault ; for there is no country 
in the world where, among the cultivated classes, re- 
ligion has such little root as in Eussia. The past gen- 
eration was partly Christian by custom, and partly 
atheist by culture. But when once this band of young 
writers, armed with the natural sciences and positive 
philosophy, full of talent, of fire, and of the ardour of 
proselytism, was impelled to the assault, Christianity 
fell like an old, decaying hovel, which remains standing 
because no one touches it. 



INTKODUCTION. 5 

The materialist propaganda was carried on in two 
modes, whicli by turns supplemented and supported 
each other. Indirectly by means of the press, works 
being translated or written which furnished the most 
irrefutable arguments against every religious system, 
against free-will, and against the supernatural. In 
order to avoid the clutches of the censorship, passages 
which were too clear were veiled under certain obscure 
words which, with an ardent and attentive reader, 
brought out the ideas even more distinctly. 

The oral propaganda, employing the arguments 
developed by the instructed, drew from them their 
logical consequences, flinging aside the reticence im- 
posed upon the writers. Atheism excited people like a 
new religion. The zealous went about, like veritable 
missionaries, in search of living souls, in order to 
cleanse them from the ^abomination of Christianity.' 
The secret press was even set to work, and Biichner's 
book ^ Force and Matter, *" in which the German philos- \ 
opher directly attacks the Christian theology, was ' 
translated and lithographed. The book was secretly 
circulated, not without a certain amount of danger, and 
was highly successful. Some pushed their ardour so 
far as to carry on the propaganda among the young 
pupils of the schools. 

One day there fell into my hands an 'open letter' of 
B. Zaizeff, one of the contributors to the 'Russkoi i 
Slovo,' a widely popular paper of that period. In this 
'letter,' intended for the secret press, the author. 



b INTEODUCTION. 

speaking of that time, and of the charges brought 
against the Nihilists of those days by the Nihilists of 
the present day, says, ^I swear to you by everything 
which I hold sacred, that we were not egotists as you 
call us. It was an error, I admit, but we were profoundly 
convinced that we were fighting for the happiness of 
human nature, and every one of us would have gone 
to the scaffold and would have laid down his life for 
[ Moleschott or Darwin.' The remark made me smile. 
The reader, also, will perhaps smile at it, but it is 
profoundly sincere and truthful. Had things reached 
such an extremity, the world would perhaps have seen 
a spectacle at once tragic and comical ; martyrdom to 
prove that Darwin was right and Cuvier wrong, as two 
centuries previously the priest Abbaco and his disciples 
went to the stake, and.mounted the scaffold, in support 
of their view, that Jesus should be written with one J 
instead of two, as in Greek ; and that the Halleluiah 
should be sung three times and not twice, as in the State 
Church. It is a fact, highly characteristic of the Eussian 
mind, this tendency to become excited even to fanaticism, 
about certain things which would simply meet with 
approval or disapproval from a man of "Western Europe. 
But, in the case to which we are referring, things 
went very smoothly. There was no one to defend the 
altars of the gods. Among us, fortunately, the clergy 
never had any spiritual influence, being extremely igno- 
rant and completely absorbed in family affairs, the priests 
being married men. What could the Government do 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

against a purely intellectual movement which found 
expression in no external act ? 

The battle was gained almost without trouble, and 
without effort ; definitely, absolutely gained. Among 
people in Russia with any education at all, a man now 
who is not a materialist, a thorough materialist, would 
really be a curiosity. 

The yictory was of the highest importance. Abso- 
lute atheism is the sole inheritance that has been pre- 
served intact by the new generation, and I need scarcely 
point out how much advantage the modern revolutionary 
movement has derived from it. 

But (Nihilism proclaimed war not only against re- 
ligion, but against everything that was not based upon 
pure and positive reason. -This tendency, right enough 
in itself, was carried by the Nihilists of 1860 to such 
lengths that it became absurd. Art, as one of the mani- 
festations of idealism, was absolutely renounced by the 
Nihilists, together with everything that excites the 
sentiment of the beautiful. 

This was one of the fiercest conflicts in which the old 
Nihilism was engaged. One of their fanatics launched 
the famous aphorism that 'a shoemaker is superior to 
Raphael, because the former makes useful things, while 
the latter makes things that are of no use at all.' To 
an orthodox Nihilist, Nature herself was a mere fur- 
nisher of materials for chemistry and technology. J I say 
nothing of many other similar things, which would take 
too long to enumerate. 



H 



8 INTBODUCTION. 

^ II. 

[ But there was one question in which Nihilism ren- 
dered great service to its country. It was the important 
question of woman. Nihilism recognised her as having 
equal rights with man. The intimacy of social inter- 
course in Russia, where there are neither cafes nor clubs, 
and where the drawing-room necessarily becomes the 
sole place of meeting, and even more perhaps the new 
economical position of the nobles resulting from the 
emancipation of the serfs, gave to the question of the 
emancipation of woman an important development, and 
secured for her an almost complete victory./ 

Woman is subjugated through love. Every time, 
therefore, that she arises to claim her rights, it is only 
natural that she should commence by asking for the 
liberty of love. It was thus in ancient days ; it was thus 
in the France of the eighteenth century, and of George 
Sand. It was thus also in Eussia. 

But with us the question of the emancipation of 
woman was not confined to the petty right of 'free love,' 
which is nothing more than the right of always selecting 
her master. It was soon understood that the important 
thing is to have liberty itself, leaving the question of 
love to individual will ; and as there is no liberty without 
economical independence, the struggle changed its 
aspect, and became one for acquiring free access to 
superior instruction and to the professions followed by 
educated men. The struggle was long and ardent, for 
our barbarous and mediaeval family life stood in the way. 



INTKODUCTION. 9 

It was maintained very bravely by our women, and had 
the same passionate character as most of our recent social 
struggles. The women finally vanquished. The G-overn- 
ment itself was compelled to recognise it. 

Iso father now threatens to cut off the hair of his 
daughter if she wishes to go to St. Petersburg to study 
medicine, or follow the higher courses there of the other 
sciences. A young girl is no longer compelled to fly 
from her father's house, and the Nihilists no longer need 
to have recourse to ^fictitious marriages' in order to 
render her her own mistress. 

Nihilism had conquered all along the line. 

The Nihilist had only now to rest upon his laurels. 
The first two persons of the trinity of his ideal, as 
prescribed by the ^What are we to do ?' — independence 
of mind and intelligent female company, were within his 
reach. The third, an occupation in accordance with his 
tastes, is lacking, but as he is intelligent, and Russia is 
wanting in educated people, he will find it easily. 

'Well, and what will happen afterwards ?' asks a 
young man full of ardor, who has just arrived from 
some distant province, and come to visit his old master. 

*I am happy,' replies the latter. 

'Yes,' the young man will say to him, 'you are 
happy, I see. But how can you be happy when in the 
country where you were born people are dying of hunger, 
where the Government takes from the people their last 
farthing and compels them to go forth and beg for a 
crust of bread ? Perhaps you do not know this ; and if 



10 INTEODUCTION. 

you know it, wliat have you done for your brethren ? 
Did you not tell me years ago that you wished to combat 
*^for the happiness of human nature ?" ' 

And the model Nihilist, the Nihilist of Turgheneff, 
will be troubled by that look which knows nothing of 
compromise ; for the enthusiasm and the faith that 
animated him in the early years of the struggle have 
vanished with victory. He is nothing more than au 
intelligent and refined epicure, and his blood circulates 
languidly in his plump body. 

And the young man will go away full of sadness, 
asking himself with an accent of despair the terrible 
question, * What are we to do ? ' 

We are now at the year 1871. Through those 
marvellous inventions by means of which the man of 
modern days may be called omnipresent, the picture is 
placed before him of an immense city which has risen 
for a grand idea, that of claiming the rights of the 
people. He follows with breathless interest all the 
vicissitudes of the terrible drama which is being en- 
acted upon the banks of the Seine. He sees blood flow; 
he hears the agonising cries of women and children 
slaughtered upon the boulevards. But for what are 
they dying ? For what are they weeping ? For the 
emancipation of the working-man ; for the grand social 
idea ! 

And at the same time falls upon his ear the plain- 
tive song of the Eussian peasant : all wailing and 
lamentation, in which so many ages of suffering seem 



INTEODUCTION. 11 

concentrated. His squalid misery, his whole life 
stands forth full of sorrow, of suffering, of outrage. 
Look at him : exhausted by hunger, broken down by 
toil, the eternal slave of the privileged classes, working 
without pause, without hope of redemption ; for the 
Government purposely keeps him ignorant, and every- 
one robs him, everyone tramples on him, and no one 
stretches out a hand to assist him. No one ? Not so. 
The young man knows now ^what to do.' He will 
stretch forth his hand. He will tell the peasant how 
to free himself and become happy. His heart throbs 
for this poor sufferer, who can only weep. The flush 
of enthusiasm mounts to his brow, and with burning 
glances he takes in his heart a solemn oath to consecrate 
all his life, all his strength, all his thoughts, to the 
liberation of this population, which drains its life-blood, 
in order that he, the favoured son of privilege, may 
live at his ease, study, and instruct himself. 

He will tear off the fine clothes that burn into his 
very flesh ; he will put on the rough coat and the 
wooden shoes of the peasant, and, abandoning the 
splendid paternal palace, which oppresses him like the 
reproach of a crime, he will go forth ^ among the 
people ' in some remote district, and there, the slender 
and delicate descendant of a noble race, he will do the 
hard work of the peasant, enduring every privation in 
order to carry to him the words of redemption, the 
Gospel of our age, — Socialism. What matters to him 
if the cut-throats of the Government lay hands upon 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

him ? What to him are exile, Siberia, death ? Full of 
his sublime idea, clear, splendid, viyifying as the mid- 
day sun, he defies suffering, and would meet death with 
a glance of enthusiasm and a smile of happiness. 

It Avas thus that the Eevolutionary Socialist of 
1872-74 arose. It was thus that his precursors of 1866 
arose, the unfortunate karakosovzi, a small nucleus of 
high intellectual character which developed under the 
immediate influence of the nascent 'Internationale,' but 
had only a brief life, and left no traces behind it. 

Here then are the two t3rpes that represent the 
Kussian intellectual movement. The first, that of the 
decade 1860-70 ; the second that from 1871 onwards. 

What a contrast ! 

The Nihilist seeks his own happiness at whatever 
cost. His ideal is a ' reasonable ' and * realistic ' life. 
The Revolutionist seeks the happiness of others at what- 
ever cost, sacrificing for it his own. His ideal is a life 
full of suffering, and a martyr's death. 

And yet Fate decreed that the former, who was not 
known and who could not be known in any other coun- 
try than his own, should have no name in Europe, and 
that the latter, having acquired a terrible reputation, 
should be called by the name of the other. What 
irony ! 



INTRODUCTION. ' 13 



THE PROPAGANDA, 

I. 

The Kussian reyolutionary movement, as I indicated at 
the commencement of my introduction, was the result 
of the examples and ideas developed in Western Eu- 
rope, acting upon the minds of the youth of Russia, who 
owing to the condition of the country were predisposed 
to accept them with the utmost favour. 

I have now to trace out separately the true influ- 
ences that determined this result, and their respective 
courses, as in the case of a great river, of which we 
know the source and the mouth, without knowing 
either its precise course, or the affluents that have given 
it such volume. 

The influence of Europe is very easy to investigate, 
its course being so simple and elementary. The com- 
munion of ideas between Russia and Europe has never 
been interrupted, notwithstanding all the preventive 
measures of the censorship. Prohibited books like the 
works of Proudhon, Eourier, Owen, and other old So- 
cialists, were always secretly introduced into Russia, 
even under the Asiatically ferocious and suspicious des- 
potism of Nicholas I. 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

But owing to the difficulty of obtaining these precious 
volumes, and to the language which rendered them in- 
accessible to ordinary readers, they could not directly 
exercise a decisive influence. There was, however, an 
entire band of very able writers who, inspired by the 
ideas of Socialism, succeeded in rendering them univer- 
sally accessible. At the head of these were the most in- 
tellectual men of whom Russia can boast : Cerniscewsky, 
a profound thinker and economist of wide knowledge, a 
novelist, a pungent polemist, who paid tlie penalty of 
his noble mission with a martyrdom, which still con- 
tinues ; Dobrolinboff, a critic of genius, who died at 
twenty-six after having shaken all Eussia with his im- 
mortal writings ; Micailoff, a professor and writer, con- 
demned to hard labour for a speech to the students — and 
many, many others. Hertzen and Ogareff, editors of 
the first free newspaper in the Russian language — the 
^Kolokol' of London — brought from abroad their pre- 
cious tribute to this movement. These were the real 
apostles of the new doctrine, who prepared the ground 
for the modern movement, having educated the entire 
generation of 1870 in the principles of Socialism. With 
the Paris Commune, which had such a formidable echo 
throughout the whole world, Russian Socialism entered 
upon its belligerent phase, and from the study and the 
private gathering passed to the workshop and the vil- 
lage. 

There were many causes which determined the youth 
of Russia to accept so eagerly the principles of the revo- 



THE PKOPAGANDA. 15 

lutionary Socialism proclaimed by tlie Commune. I can 
merely indicate them here. The ill-fated Crimean War 
having ruthlessly demonstrated the rottenness of the 
whole Russian social edifice, it was essential to provide a 
remedy as expeditiously as possible. But the work of 
the regeneration of the country, directed by the hand of 
an autocratic Emperor, who wished to preserve every- 
thing ; both his sacred ' rights ' (the first to be abolished), 
and the prerogatives of the class of the nobles, in order 
to have their suj)port because he feared the revolution — 
such a work could only be imperfect, hypocritical, con- 
tradictory, an abortion. We will not criticise it, especial- 
ly as there is no need to do so, for all the newspapers, 
including the ^ Official Gazette,' now repeat in various 
tones what the Socialists have been so much reviled for 
declaring, that all the reforms of Alexander II. proved ] 
utterly inefficient, and that the famous emancipation of 
the serfs only changed their material condition for the 
worse, the terms of redemption fixed for the scrap of j 
land bestowed upon them being onerous beyond meas- 
ure. 

The wretched condition, every day growing worse, of 
the peasants, that is to say, of nine-tenths of the entire 
population, could not fail to cause serious reflection to 
all those who had at heart the future of the country. It 
was essential to seek a remedy for this, and it may fairly 
be assumed that the public mind would have turned to 
legal and pacific means if, after having liberated the 
peasants from the bondage of their lords, the Emperor 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

Alexander II. had liberated Russia from his own bond- 
age, bestowing upon her some kind of Constitution 
which would have made her the arbiter of her own des- 
tinies, or at least have afforded her the hope of one day 
becoming so. But this was precisely what he would not 
do on any account. Autocracy having retained all its 
power, nothing could be hoped for except from the 
good-will of the Emperor, and this hope went on dimin- 
ishing as the years passed by. Alexander II. as a re- 
former stood the test only for a few years. 

The insurrection in Poland, stifled with a ferocity 
known to all, was the signal for a reaction, which grew 
more furious day by day. There was nothing to hope 
for in legal and pacific means. Everything must be 
uncomplainingly endured, or other ways of saving the 
country must be sought for. All those who had a 
heart in their breasts naturally clung to the latter 
course. 

Thus, as the reaction grew more furious, the revolu- 
tionary excitement became more manifest, and secret 
societies swarmed in all the principal cities. The re- 
volver shot of Karakosoff which resulted from that ex- 
citement was a terrible warning to the Emperor Alex- 
ander II. But he would not understand. Nay, after 
1866, the reaction redoubled its fury. In a few months 
everything that still maintained a semblance of the 
Liberalism of the early years of the reign was swept 
away. It was a veritable ^ Dance Macabre,' a veritable 
'White Terror.' 



THE PROPAGANDA. 17 

II. 

After 1866 a man must haye been either blind or hypo- 
critical to believe in the possibility of any improvement, 
except by violent means. The revolutionary ferment 
visibly increased, and only a spark was wanting to 
change the latent aspirations into a general movement. 
As I have already said, the Paris Commune supplied it. 
It was immediately after the Commune, that is to say 
toward the end of the year 1871, that the Society of the 
* Dolguscinzi ' was formed at Moscow ; and in 1872 the 
important society was organized at St. Petersburg of the 
^ Ciaikovzi,' which had its ramifications at Moscow, 
Kieff, Odessa, Orel, and Taganrog. The object of both was 
to carry on the Socialist and revolutionary propaganda 
among the workmen and peasants. I say nothing of 
many small bodies that were formed with the same ob- 
ject in the provinces, or of many isolated individuals who 
then went forth ' among the people,' in order to carry 
on the propaganda. The movement was entirely spon- 
taneous, and was simply the necessary result of the con- 
dition of Russia, seen under the influence of the Parisian 
movement, through the prism of the Socialist ideas dis- 
seminated by Oerniscevsky and Dobroliuboff. 

But a most powerful current which came from 
abroad very soon united with this native current. It 
was that of the ^ Internationale,' which, as is well known, 
had its own greatest development in the years imme- 
diately succeeding the Paris Commune. Here, also, two 
separate courses of transmission should be distinguished : 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

the firsfc, literary ; the second, personal and immediate. 
Two writers — the great Michael Bacunin, the genius of 
destruction, the principal founder of the anarchical or 
federalistic 'Internationale/ and Peter Layroff, the 
distinguished philosopher and writer, rendered great 
service to our cause with their pens ; the former as the 
author of a book upon the Eeyolution, and Federalism, 
in which, with inimitable clearness and power, the 
ardent tribune and daring thinker deyeloped his ideas 
upon the necessity of an immediate popular revolution ; 
the latter as editor of a review, the ' Vperiod ' (Onward), 
written, for the most part, by himself with unwearied 
application and erudition. However divergent on cer- 
tain points — Bacunin being an ardent defender of the 
extreme party of the ^Internationale,' and La vroff being 
rather inclined towards the more moderate party — the 
two writers recognised the popular revolution as the sole 
means of effectively changing the insufferable condition 
of the Russian people. 

But the ' Internationale ' also had a direct influence 
upon the Russian movement. Here I must retrace my 
steps for a moment, as the revolutionary movement 
touches at this point the individual movement of Nihil- 
ism, properly so-called, of which I spoke in my Intro- 
duction. The struggle for the emancipation of woman 
having been fused with that of the right to higher 
education, and there being in Russia neither college nor 
university which would accept women as students, they 
resolved to go and seek in distant countries the knowl- 



THE PKOPAGANDA. 19 

edge denied to them in their own. Free Switzerland, 
which shuts out no one from its frontiers or its schools, 
was the favourite country of these new pilgrims, and the 
famous city of Zurich was their Jerusalem. From all 
parts of Kussia — ^from the plains of the placid Volga ; 
from the Caucasus ; from distant Siberia — young girls 
of scarcely sixteen, with scanty luggage and slender 
means, went forth alone into an unknown country, eager 
for the knowledge which alone could insure them the 
independence they coveted. But, on arriving in the 
country of their dreams, they found not only schools of 
medicine there, but also a great social movement of 
which many had no conception. And here once more 
the difference became apparent between the old Nihilism 
and the Socialism of the modern generation. 

^ What is all this knowledge,' the young girls asked 
themselves, ^but a means of acquiring a more advanta- 
geous position among the privileged classes to which we 
already belong ? Who except ourselves will derive any 
advantage from it ; and if no one does, what is the differ- 
ence between us and the swarm of blood-suckers who live 
by the sweat and tears of our poor fellow-countrymen ? 

And the young girls deserted medicine, and began 
to frequent the sittings of the 'Internationale' and to 
study political economy, and the works of Marx, Bacunin, 
Proudhon, and of all the founders of European Social- 
ism. In a short time the city of Zurich from being a 
place of study was transfarmed into an immense perma- 
nent Club. Its fame spread throughout all Kussia, and 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

attracted to it hundreds and hundreds of persons, men 
and women. It was then that the Imperial Goyernment, 
as a supreme precaution, issued the stupid and shameful 
(Ukase of the year 1873, ordering all Eussians, under 
pain of outlawry, to immediately abandon the terrible 
city of Zurich. The engineer was hoist with his own 
petard. Among the young Eussians assembled there, 
plans, more or less rague, were formed to return home 
in order to carry on the Internationalist propaganda. 
The Ukase had this effect, that, instead of returning 
separately in the course of several years, almost all re- 
turned at once in a body. Eagerly welcomed by their 
companions, they every where carried on the most ardent 
Internationalist propaganda. 

III. 

Thus in the winter of 1872, in one of the hovels in 
the outskirts of St. Petersburg, a number of working 
men gathered round (Prince) Peter Krapotkine, who 
expounded to them the principles of Socialism, and of 
the revolution. The rich Cossack Obuchoff, though 
consumptive and dying, did the same upon the banks of 
his native Don. An officer, Leonidas Sciscko, became a 
hand- weaver in one of the St. Petersburg manufactories, 
in order to carry on the propaganda there. Two other 
members of the same society — an officer, Demetrius 
Eogaceff, who afterwards inspired so much terror, and 
a friend — went into the province of Tver as sawyers, for 
the purpose of carrying on the propaganda there among 



THE PROPAGANDA. 21 

the peasants. In the winter of 1873, in consequence of 
the delation of a land-owner of the district, these two 
were arrested. After having escaped by the aid of the 
peasants from, the hands of the police, they reached 
Moscow, in order to carry on the propaganda among the 
youth of that city. There they found two women who 
had just arrived from Zurich Avith the same object. 
Thus the two currents, the home and foreign, met each 
other at every point, and both led to the same result. 
The books said : ^ The hour of the destruction of the 
old hourgeois world has sounded. A new world, based 
upon the fraternity of all men, in which there will no 
longer be either misery or tears, is about to arise upon 
its ruins. Up and be doing ! All hail to the Eevolu- 
tion, the sole means of realising this golden ideal.' 

The men and women who had come back from 
abroad inflamed the public mind with the recital of the 
great struggle already undertaken by the proletariat of 
the West ; of the ' Internationale ' and of its great pro- 
moters ; of the Commune and its martyrs ; and prepared 
to go ' among the people ' with their new proselytes in 
order to put their ideas in practice. And both turned 
anxiously to those, who were few then, who had come 
back from the work of propagandism, to ask them what 
were these powerful and mysterious beings — the people 
— whom their fathers taught them to fear, and whom, 
without knowing, they already loved with all the im- 
petuosity of their youthful hearts. And those appealed 
to who just before had the same mistrust and the same, 



22 INTEODUCTION. 

apprehensions, said, overflowing with exultation, that 
the terrible people were good, simple, trusting as chil- 
dren ; that they not only did not mistrust, but wel- 
comed them with open arms and hearts; that they 
listened to their words with the deepest sympathy, and 
that old and young after a long day of toil pressed atten- 
tively around them in some dark and smoky hovel, in 
which, by the uncertain light of a chip of resinous wood 
in place of a candle, they spoke of Socialism, or read 
one of the few propagandist books which they had 
brought ; that the communal assemblies were broken 
up when they came into the villages, as the peasants 
abandoned the meetings to come and listen. And after 
having depicted all the terrible sufferings of these un- 
happy people, seen with their own eyes, heard with 
their own ears, they told of little signs and tokens, 
exaggerated perhaps by their imaginations, which 
showed that these people could not be so dispirited 
as was believed, and that there were indications and 
rumours denoting that their patience was coming to 
an end, and that some great storm was felt to be ap- 
proaching. 

All these numerous and powerful influences, acting 
upon the impressionable minds, so prone to enthusiasm, 
of the Russian youth, produced that vast movement of 
1873-74 which inaugurated the new Eussian revolu- 
tionary era. 

f Nothing similar had been seen before, nor since. 

\It was a revelation, rather than a propaganda. At first 



THE PROPAGANDA. 23 

the book, or the indiyidual, could be traced out, that 
had impelled such or such a person to join the move- 
ment ; but after some time this became impossible. 
It was a powerful cry which arose no one knew where, 
and summoned the ardent to the great work of the 
redemption of the country and of humanity. And the 
ardent, hearing this cry, arose, overflowing with sorrow 
and indignation for their past life, and abandoning 
home, wealth, honours, family, threw themselves into 
the movement with a joy, an enthusiasm, a faith, such 
as are experienced only once in a life, and when lost are 
never found again. 

I will not speak of the many, many, young men and 
young women of the most aristocratic families, who 
laboured for fifteen hours a day in the factories, in the 
workshops, in the fields. Youth is always generous and 
ready for sacrifice. The characteristic fact was that 
the contagion spread, even to people in years, who had 
already a future clearly marked out and a position 
gained by the sweat of their brows : judges, doctors, / 
officers, ofiicials ; and these were not among the least [ 
ardent. 

Yet it was not a political movement. It rather re- 

1 



sembled a religious movement, and had all the con- 



tagious and absorbing character of one. People not 
only sought to attain a distinct practical object, but also 
to satisfy an inward sentiment of duty, an aspiration 
towards their own moral perfection. 

But this noble movement, in contact with harsh 



24 INTKODUCTION. 

reality, was shattered like a precious Sevres vase, struck 
by a heavy and dirty stone. 

Not that the Eussian peasant had shown himself 
indifferent or hostile to Socialism ; quite the contrary. 
Eor a Eussian peasant who has his old ' obscina ' (rural 
commune) with the collective property of the land, and 
his ' mir ' or ' gromada ' (communal assembly), which 
exclusively controls all the communal affairs, the prin- 
ciples of scientific combination and federalism were 
only a logical and natural deduction from the institu- 
tions to which he had been accustomed for so many 
ages. In fact there is no country in the world where 
the peasantry would be so ready to accept the principles 
of Federative Socialism as Eussia. Some of our old 
Socialists — for example Bacunin — even deny the neces- 
sity for any Socialist propaganda whatever among the 
Eussian peasants, declaring that they already possess 
all the fundamental elements, and that, therefore, if 
summoned to an immediate revolution, it could not be 
other than a social revolution. But a revolution always 
requires a powerful organisation, which can only be 
formed by a propaganda, either Socialist or purely 
revolutionary. As this could not be openly carried on, 
it was necessary to have recourse to a secret propa- 
ganda ; and that was absolutely impossible in our 
villages. 

Everyone who settles there, whether as artisan, or 
as communal teacher, or clerk, is immediately under 
the eyes of all. He is observed, and his every move- 



THE PKOPAGANDA. 25 

ment is watch.ed, as though he were a bird in a glass 
cage. Then, too, the peasant is absolutely incapable 
of keeping secret the propaganda in his midst. How 
can you expect him not to speak to his neighbour, 
whom he has known for so many years, of a fact so 
extraordinary as the reading of a book, especially when 
it concerns a matter which appears to him so just, good, 
and natural as that which the Socialist tells him about ? 
Thus, whenever a propagandist visits any of his friends, 
the news immediately spreads throughout the village, 
and half an hour afterwards the hovel is full of bearded 
peasants, who hasten to listen to the new-comer with- 
out warning either him or his host. When the hovel 
is too little to hold all this throng, he is taken to the 
commxunal house, or into the open air, where he reads 
his books, and makes his speeches under the roof of 
heaven. 

It is quite evident that, with these customs, the 
Government would have no difficulty in hearing of the 
agitation which was being carried on among the peas- 
ants. Arrest followed arrest, thick and fast. Thirty- 
seven provinces were ' infected ' by the Socialist conta- 
gion, as a Government circular declares. The total 
number of the arrests was never known. In a single 
trial, which lasted four years, that of ' the 193,' they 
reached, according to the official statistics, about a 
thousand. 

But legion after legion boldly descended into the 

lists, when, owing to the number of the fallen, the battle 
2 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

seemed to be slackening. The moyement lasted for two 
years with yarions degrees of intensity. But the fact 
had at last to be recognised^ that it was like running 
one's head against a wall. 

In the year 1875 the moyement changed its aspect. 
The propaganda among the masses, the only one, that 
is, which could stir them, was abandoned, and in its 
place the so-called ' colonisation ' {poselenia) entered the 
field ; that is, the grouping together of an entire nu- 
cleus of propagandists in a given province, or, rather, in 
a giyen district. 

In order to avoid the rocks which had wrecked the 
movement of the previous years, the colonists proceeded 
very cautiously, endeavouring rather to avoid observa- 
tion, to make no stir, to carry on their agitation only 
among those peasants with whom they were thoroughly 
acquainted as cautious and prudent people. The colo- 
nies, being much less exposed to the chance of discov- 
ery, held their ground with varying fortunes for several 
years, and in part still continue, but without any result. 
Evidently, however, they could not do much owing to 
the immensity -of Eussia, and the necessity of deliber- 
ately restraining their own activity, even in the districts 
chosen. 

IV. 

The trials of the agitators which took place in the 
years 18T7 and 1878 indicated the end of this first period 
of revolutionary activity in Russia, and at the same time 
were its apotheosis. 



THE PROPAGANDA. 27 

The Eussian Government, wishing to follow in the 
steps of the second French Empire, which knew so well 
how to deal with the Red spectre, ordered that the first 
great trial — that of the so-called Fifty of the Society of 
Moscow — should be public, hoping that the terrified 
bourgeois would draw more closely around the throne 
and abandon their liberal tendencies, which were already 
beginning to show themselves. 

But no. Even those who could not but consider 
such men as enemies were bewildered at the sight of so 
much self-sacrifice. 

'They are saints.' Such was the exclamation, re- 
peated in a broken voice, by those who were present at 
this memorable trial. 

The monster trial of the 193 of the following year 
only confirmed this opinion. 

And, in fact, everything that is noble and sublime in 
human nature seemed concentrated in these generous 
young men. Inflamed, subjugated by their grand idea, 
they wished to sacrifice for it, not only their lives, their 
future, their position, but their very souls. They sought 
to purify themselves from every other thought, from all 
personal affections, in order to be entirely, exclusively 
devoted to it. Rigorism was elevated into a dogma. 
For several years, indeed, even absolute asceticism^ 
was ardently maintained among the youth of both 
sexes. The propagandists wished nothing for them- 

1 Hence arose the ridiculous confusion of the Nihilists with 
the scopzi, a fanatical body who mutilated themselves. 



\ 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

selves. They were the purest personification of self- 
denial. 

But these beings were too ideal for the terrible strug- 
gle which was about to commen'Se. The type of the 
propagandist of the first lustre of the last decade was 
religious rather than reyolutionary. His faith was So- 
cialism. His god the people. Notwithstanding all the 
evidence to the contrary, he firmly believed that, from 
one day to the other, the revolution was about to break 
out ; as in the Middle Ages people believed at certain 
periods in the approach of the day of judgment. Inex- 
orable reality struck a terrible blow at his enthusiasm 
and faith, disclosing to him his god as it really is, and 
not as he had pictured it. He was as ready for sacrifice 
as ever. But he had neither the impetuosity nor the 
ardour of the struggle. After the first disenchant- 
ment he no longer saw any hope in victory, and longed 
for the crown of thorns rather than that of laurel. 
He went forth to martyrdom with the serenity of a 
Christian of the early ages, and he suffered it with a 
calmness of mind — nay, with a certain rapture, for 
he knew he was suffering for his faith. He was full 
of love, and had no hatred for anyone, not even his exe- 
cutioners. 

Such was the propagandist of 1872-75. This type 
was too ideal to withstand the fierce and imminent 
conflict. It must change or disappear. 

Already another was arising in its place. Upon the 
horizon there appeared a gloomy form, illuminated by 



THE PKOPAGANDA. 29 

a light as of hell, who, with lofty bearing, and a look 
breathing forth hatred and defiance, made his way 
through the terrified crowd to enter with a firm step 
upon the scene of history. 
It was the Terrorist. 



u 



30 



THE TERRORISM. 

I. 

The years 1876 and 1877 were the darkest and most 
mournful for the Russian Socialists. The propagandist 
movement cost immense sacrifices. An entire genera- 
tion was mown down by Despotism in a fit of delirious 
fear. The prisons were crammed with propagandists. 
I^ew prisons were built. And the result of so much 
sacrifice ? Oh, how petty it was compared with the 
immense effort ! 

What could the few working men and peasants do 
who were inflamed by Socialist ideas ? What could the 
' colonies ' do, dispersed here and there ? 

The past was sad ; the future, gloomy and obscure. 
But the movement could not stop. The public mind, 
overstimulated and eager to act, only sought some other 
means of attaining the same end. 

But to find one was very difficult under the condi- 
tions in which Russia was placed. Long and arduous 
was this work ; many were its victims ; for it was like 
endeavouring to issue from some gloomy cavern, full of 
dangers and pitfalls, in which every step costs many 



THE TEBROEISM. 31 

lives, and the cries of fallen brethren are the sole 
indications for the survivors, of the path to be followed. 

The propagandist movement was a sublime test of 
the power of Words. By a natural reaction the oppo- 
site course was now to be tried, that of Acts. 

' We did not succeed because we were mere talkers, 
incapable of real work. ' 

Such was the bitter reproach of the survivors of the 
great movement, confronted with the new revolutionary 
generation which had arisen to occupy the place of the 
preceding ; and the cry of ' Let us act ' became as 
general as that of ' among the people ' had been a few 
years before. 

But what kind of action was to be taken ? 
Impelled by their generous desire to do everything 
for the people, and for the people only, the Eevolii- 
tionists endeavoured, above all things, to organise some 
insurrectionary movement among the people. The 
first societies of the so-called ' buntari ' (fanatics) of 
Kieff, Odessa, and Karkoff, the fixed object of which 
was an immediate rising, date from the year 1875. 
But a revolution, like a popular movement, is of 
spontaneous growth, and cannot be forced. One 
attempt alone — that of Stefanovic — very skilfully 
based upon local agitation and aspirations, succeeded 
in making some few steps, at least, towards the object. 
The others had not even this success. They were 
discovered and dissolved before giving effect to their 
sanguinary projects. 



32 INTKODUCTION. 

In the towns tlie same tendency manifested itself 
in another form ; the Eevolutionists made their first 
essays in street demonstrations. 

The years 1876, 1877, and the early months of 1878, 
were periods of 'demonstrations 'more or less energetic; 
such as the funeral of Cernisceff and Padleysky, the 
demonstration of Kazan, which had such a tragical 
ending, and, finally, that of Odessa, on the day of the 
condemnation of Koyalsky, which was a yeritable battle, 
with dead and wounded on both sides, and several 
hundred arrests. 

It was evident that by this path there could be 
no advance. The disproportion between the material 
forces at the disposition of the revolutionary party 
and those of the Government was too great for these 
demonstrations to be other than voluntary sacrifices of 
the flower of the Russian youth to the Imperial 
Moloch. With us a revolution, or even a rising of any 
importance, like those in Paris, is absolutely impossible. 
Our towns constitute only a tenth of the entire popula- 
tion ; and most of them are only large villages, miles 
and miles apart. The real towns, those for instance 
of 10,000 or 15,000 inhabitants, form only four or 
five per cent, of the entire population, that is about 
three or four millions in all. And the Government, 
which has under its orders the military contingent 
of the entire population, that is 1,200,000 soldiers, 
can transform the five or six principal towns, the 
only places where any movement whatever is possi- 



THE TEEEORISM. 33 

ble, into yeritable military camps, as indeed they 
are. 

This is a consideration which should always be 
borne in mind, in order to understand the cause of 
everything that has since happened. 

Demonstrations of every kind were abandoned, and 
from the year 1878 entirely disappeared. 

But a noteworthy change in the revolutionary type 
dates from this period. The Eevolutionist was no 
longer what he had been five years before. He had 
not yet revealed himself by any daring acts ; but by 
dint of constantly meditating upon them, by repeat- 
ing that bullets were better than words, by nourishing 
sanguinary projects in his mind, something of their 
spirit entered into his disposition. Thus the man was 
formed. And the Government did everything it could 
to develop still more these nascent tendencies of his 
and force him to translate them into acts. 

The merest suspicion led to arrest. An address ; a 
letter from a friend who had gone ' among the people ;' 
a word let fall by a lad of twelve who, from excess of 
fear, knew not what to reply, were sufficient to cast the 
suspected person into prison, where he languished for 
years and years, subjected to all the rigour of the 
Eussian cellular system. To give an idea of this it 
need only be mentioned that, in the course of the 
investigations in the trial of the 193, which lasted four 
years, the number of the prisoners who committed 
suicide, or went mad, or died, reached 75. 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

The sentences of the exceptional tribunal, which was 
simply a docile instrument in the hands of the Govern- 
ment, were of an incredible cruelty. Ten, twelye, 
fifteen years of hard labour were inflicted, for two or 
three speeches, made in private to a handful of working 
men, or for a single book read or lent. Thus what is 
freely done in every country in Europe was punished 
among us like murder. 

But not satisfied with these judicial atrocities, the 
Government, by infamous secret orders, augmented still 
more the sufferings of the political prisoners, so that in 
the House of Horrors — the central prison of Karkoff — 
several ^revolts' took place among them in order to 
obtain equality of treatment with those condemned for 
common crimes. Such was their condition ! And from 
time to time, by ways which only prisoners know how 
to find out, there came from these men buried alive 
some letter, written on a scrap of paper in which 
tobacco or a candle had been wrapped up, describing 
the infamous treatment, the vile and useless cruelty, 
which their gaolers had inflicted upon them, in order to 
curry favour with superiors ; and these letters passed 
from hand to hand, and this information passed from 
mouth to mouth, causing tears of grief and rage, and 
arousing in the most gentle and tender minds thoughts 
of blood, of hatred, and of vengeance. 

II. 

The first sanguinary events took place a year before 



THE TEEROEISM. 35 

the Terrorism was erected into a system. They were 
isolated cases, without any political importance, but 
they clearly showed that the efforts of the Government 
had begun to bear fruit, and that the ^ milk of love' 
of the Socialists of the previous lustre was already be- 
coming changed, little by little, into the gall of hatred. 
Sprung from personal resentment, it was directed 
against the more immediate enemies, the spies, and in 
various parts of Russia some half-dozen of them were 
killed. 

These first acts of bloodshed evidently could not 
stop there. If time were consumed in killing a vile spy, 
why allow the gendarme to live on with impunity who 
sent him forth, or the procurator who from the informa- 
tion of the spy obtained materials for ordering the 
arrest, or the head of the police who directed every- 
thing ? The logic of life could not but compel the 
Revolutionaries to mount these steps by degrees, and it 
cannot be doubted that they would have done so, for 
the Russian may be wanting in many things, but not 
in the courage to be logical. Nay, one. of the most 
striking peculiarities of the Russian character is that 
it never hesitates before the practical consequences of a 
chain of reasoning. 

There was, however, a fact of primary importance 
which gave such a strong impetus to the movement, 
that this step, which otherwise would perhaps have re- 
quired several years, was taken at a single bound. 

On January 24 of the year 1878, the memorable 



36 INTEODUCTION. 

shot was fired by the revolver of Vera Zassulic against 
General Trepoff, who had ordered a political prisoner 
named Bogoluiboff to be flogged. Two months after- 
wards she was acquitted by the jury. 

I need not narrate the details of the occurrence, 
nor those of the trial, nor insist upon their importance. 
Everyone understood them, and even now, four years 
afterwards, everyone remembers that wave of admira- 
tion which invaded every heart, without distinction of 
party, of class, or of age. It is easy to imagine what it 
must have been in Kussia. 

Zassulic was not a terrorist. She was the angel of 
vengeance, and not of terror. She was a victim who 
voluntarily threw herself into the jaws of the monster 
in order to cleanse the honour of the party from a 
mortal outrao^e. It was evident that if everv infa- 
mous act had to await its Zassulic, he who committed 
it might sleep in peace, and die hoary-headed. 

Yet this occurrence gave to the Terrorism a most 
powerful impulse. It illuminated it with its divine 
aureola, and gave to it the sanction of sacrifice and of 
public opinion. 

The acquittal of Zassulic was a solemn condemnation 
of the entire arbitrary system which had impelled lier 
to raise her avenging hand against the bully. The 
press and the public were unanimous in confirming 
the sentence of the jurj^. 

And how did the Government receive the judgment 
of the nation ? 



THE TEREOBISM. 37 

The Emperor Alexander II. went in person to j)ay a 
visit to Trepoff, covered with so much ignominy, and 
ransacked the whole city in search of the acquitted Zas- 
sulic, in order to put her again in prison. 

It was impossible to show a more impudent contempt 
for justice, and the universal feeling. 

The general discontent grew beyond measure, for to 
the sting of the outrage was added the pang of deception. 

Here I ought to stop for a moment to analyse the 
purely Liberal movement which germinated among the 
cultivated and privileged classes of Eussian society at 
the commencement of the reign. Being unable to do 
this even briefly, I will merely say, that the event which 
imparted to it the greatest intensity was the war with 
Turkey, because it laid bare, like that of the Crimea, 
the shameful abuses of our social system, and awakened 
hopes of a new reorganisation of the State, especially 
after the Constitution which Alexander II. gave to 
Bulgaria. 

The return of the Emperor to his capital exactly 
coincided with the trial of Zassulic. 

The Liberals awoke from their dreams. It was then 

that they turned in despair to the only party which was 

struggling against despotism, the Socialist party. The 

first efforts of the Liberal party to approach the Eevo- 

lutionaries in order to form an alliance with them 

date from 1878. 

III. 

The Government, however, seemed bent on exas- 



38 INTEODUCTION. 

perating not only the Liberals but also tlie Eevolu- 
tionists. "With, a vile desire for vengeance, it redoubled 
its cruelty against the Socialists, whom it had in its 
power. The Emperor Alexander II. even went so far 
as to annul the sentence of his own Senate, which, 
under the form of a petition for pardon, acquitted most 
of the accused in the trial of the 193. 

What government, therefore, was this which acted 
so insolently against all the laws of the country, which 
was not supported, and did not wish to be supported, 
by the nation, or by any class, or by the laws which it 
had made itself ? What did it represent except brute 
force ? 

Against such a G-ovemment everything is permitted. 
It is no longer a guardian of the will of the people, or 
of the majority of the people. It is organised injustice. 
A citizen is no more bound to respect it, than to respect 
a band of highwaymen who employ the force at their 
command in rifling travellers. 

But how shake off this camarilla entrenched behind 
a forest of bayonets ? How free the country from it ? 
^■^ It being absolutely impossible to overcome this ob- 
stacle by force, as in other countries more fortunate than 
ours, a flank movement was necessary, so as to fall upon 
this camarilla before it could avail itself of its forces, 
thus rendered useless in their impregnable positions. 

Thus arose the Terrorism. 

Conceived in hatred, nurtured by patriotism and by 
hope, it grew up in the electrical atmosphere, impreg- 



THE TERRORISM. 39 

nated with the enthusiasm awakened by an act of 
heroism. 

On August 16, 1878, that is five months after the ac- f^ 
quittal of Zassulic, the Terrorism, by putting to death 
General Mesentzeff, the head of the police and of the 
entire camarilla, boldly threw down its glove in the face 
of autocracy. From that day forth it advanced with 
giant strides, acquiring strength and position, and cul- 
minating in the tremendous duel with the man who 
was the personification of despotism. 

I will not relate its achievements, for they are written 
in letters of fire upon the records of history. 

Three times the adversaries met face to face. Three 
times the Terrorist by the will of fate was overthrown, 
but after each defeat he arose more threatening and 
powerful than before. To the attempt of Solovieff suc- 
ceeded that of Hartman, which was followed by the 
frightful explosion at the Winter Palace, the infernal 
character of which seemed to surpass everything the 
Imagination could conceive. But it was surpassed on 
March 13. Once more the adversaries grappled with 
each other, and this time the omnipotent Emperor fell 
half dead to the ground. 

The Terrorist had won the victory in his tremendous 
duel, which had cost so many sacrifices. With a whole 
nation prostrate he alone held high his head, which 
throughout so many tempests he had never bent. 

He is noble, terrible, irresistibly fascinating, for he 



40 INTEODUCTION. 

combines in himself the two sublimities of human grand- 
eur : the martyr and the hero. 

He is a martyr. From the day when he swears in 
the depths of his heart to free the people and the country, 
he knows he is consecrated to Death. He faces it at 
eyery step of his stormy life. He goes forth to meet it 
fearlessly, when necessary, and can die without flinch- 
ing, not like a Christian of old, but like a warrior accus- 
tomed to look death in the face. 

He has no longer any religious feeling in his dis- 
position. He is a wrestler, all bone and muscle, and has 
nothing in common with the dreamy idealist of the 
previous lustre. He is a mature man, and the unreal 
dreams of his youth have disappeared with years. He is 
a Socialist fatally convinced, but he understands that a 
Social Ee volution requires long preparatory labor, which 
cannot be given until political liberty is acquired. 
Modest and resolute, therefore, he clings to the reso- 
lution to limit for the present his plans that he may 
extend them afterwards. He has no other object than 
to overthrow this abhorred despotism, and to give to his 
country, what all civilised nations possess, political 
liberty, to enable it to advance with a firm step towards 
its own redemption. The force of mind, the indomitable 
energy, and the spirit of sacrifice which his predecessor 
attained in the beauty of his dreams, he attains in the 
grandeur of his mission, in the strong passions which 
this marvellous, intoxicating, vertiginous struggle arouses 
in his heart. 



THE TERRORISM. 41 

What a spectacle ! When had such a spectacle been 
seen before ? Alone, obscure, poor, he undertook to be 
the defender of outraged humanity, of right tramjoled 
under foot, and he challenged to the death the most 
powerful Empire in the world, and for years and years 
confronted all its immense forces. 

Proud as Satan rebelling against God, he opposed his ) 
own will to that of the man who alone, amid a nation ■ 
of slaves, claimed the right of having a will. But how 
different is this terrestrial god from the old Jehovah of 
Moses ! How he hides his trembling head under the 
daring blows of the Terrorist ! True, he still stands 
erect, and the thunderbolts launched by his trembling 
hand often fail ; but when they strike, they kill. But 
the Terrorist is immortal. His limbs may fail him, but, 
as if by magic, they regain their vigour, and he stands 
erect, ready for battle after battle until he has laid low 
his enemy and liberated the country. And already he 
sees that enemy falter, become confused, cling desper- 
ately to the wildest means, which can only hasten his 
end. 

It is this absorbing struggle, it is this imposing 
mission, it is this certainty of approaching victory, 
which gives him that cool and calculating enthusiasm, 
that almost superhuman energy, which astounds the 
world. If he is by nature a man capable of generous 
impulses, he will become a hero ; if he is of stronger 
fibre, it will harden into iron ; if of iron, it will become 
adamant. 



42 INTKODUCTIOK 

He has a powerful and distinctive indiyiduality. He 
is no longer, like his predecessor, all abnegation. He 
no longer possesses, he no longer strives after, that 
abstract moral beanty which made the propagandist 
resemble a being of another world ; for his look is no 
longer directed inwardly, but is fixed upon the hated 
enemy. He is the type of individual force, intolerant 
of every yoke. He fights not only for the people, to 
render them the arbiters of their own destinies, not only 
for the whole nation stifling in this pestiferous atmos- 
phere, but also for himself ; for the dear ones whom he 
loves, whom he adores with all the enthusiasm which 
animates his soul ; for his friends, who languish in the 
horrid cells of the central prisons, and who stretch forth 
to him their skinny hands imploring aid. He fights for 
himself. He has sworn to be free and he will be free, 
in defiance of everything. He bends his haughty head 
before no idol. He has devoted his sturdy arms to the 
cause of the people. But he no longer deifies them. 
And if the people, ill-counselled, say to him, 'Be a 
slave,' he will exclaim, ' l^o ; ' and he will march on- 
ward, defying their imprecations and their fury, certain 
that justice will be rendered to him in his tomb. 

Such is the Terrorist. 



REVOLUTIONAEY PEOFILES. 



45 



REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES, 

I HAYE succinctly related the history of the Eevolution- 
ary moYement of the last decade, from 1871 to 1881. I 
will now introduce my readers to the inner life of 
Underground Russia, and of those terrible men, who 
have so many times made him tremble before whom all 
tremble. I will show them as they are, without exag- 
geration and without false modesty. I know well that 
to draw the portraits of Sophia PeroYskaia, of Vera 
Zassulic, of Demetrius Lisogub, and of so many others, 
would require a much more powerful pen than mine. 
I say this, not from couYcntional modesty, but from the 
infinite admiration I feel for them, which CYcryone 
would feel who had known them. The reader must 
therefore supply my shortcomings by filling in, with the 
colours of life, the stiff and formal outlines which 
I shall trace. As for me, I claim no other merit 
than that of being perfectly truthful. I must, there- 
fore, warn the lovers of sensational details that they 
will be gi-eatly disappointed ; for, in real life, ever}^- 
thing is done in a much more simple manner than is 
believed. 

Of course I propose to make no ' revelations.' I 



4:6 REVOLUTIONAKY PEOFILES. 

shall only relate wliat can be related, confining myself 
to facts and to names thoroughly well known and often 
repeated even in the Russian newspapers. 

'No political significance need be looked for, either 
in the selection of my subjects or in the order of their 
treatment. Aboye all, I shall only speak of those whom 
I haye known personally — and this will sufficiently in- 
dicate that mine is a cliance selection ; for in a moye- 
ment so yast, and in a country so large as ours, a man 
can only haye a limited circle of friends and personal 
acquaintances. As to the order of treatment, I haye 
been guided neither by the importance nor by the rela- 
tive celebrity of the persons who have taken part in the 
movement. I commence, therefore, neither with Sophia 
Perovskaia nor with Vera Zassulic, nor with Peter Kra- 
potkine. I have arranged my few portraits, as the 
reader will see for himself, so as to bring out more 
clearly, by the contrast of the figures, the general char- 
acter of the party. It is for this reason that I have 
selected a form for my narrative somewhat frivolous, per- 
haps, considering the subject that I am treating ; I mean 
that of personal recollections, as best adapted to preserve 
certain details of local colour which, almost insignificant 
in themselves, contribute, taken together, to give an 
idea of the peculiar life of this Revolutionary Russia ; — 
my principal, nay, my sole object. 

I say all this, not for the Russian police, which has 
no need of it, being thoroughly acquainted with every- 
thing, — but for you, good reader ; so that when yon 



REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 47 

are quietly reading these pages, your heart may not be 
troubled by the melancholy thought that they might 
some day lead to the torture of a human being, in some 
gloomy dungeon of the fortress of St. Peter and St. 
Paul. With this somewhat long introduction, permit 
me to present to you my first specimen, and dear friend, 
Jacob Stefanoyic. 



48 



JACOB STEFANOVia 



I. 



Ik the summer of 1877 the district of Cighirino was all 
in commotion. 

The police ran hither and thither as though pos- 
sessed ; the ' Stanoyie' and the ^Ispraynik' had no rest 
night or day. The Groyernor himself paid a yisit to the 
district. What was the matter ? The police, through 
the priests — who, yiolating the secret of the con- 
fessional, turned informers — got scent of the fact that 
a terrible conspiracy had been formed among the 
peasants, at the head of which were the Nihilists, 
daring people, capable of eyerything. There were no 
means, howeyer, of penetrating further into the secrets 
of the conspiracy ; for the peasants, learning that the 
priests had betrayed them, resolyed no longer to go to 
confession. Meanwhile, there was no time to lose. 
The conspiracy continued to spread, as was shown by 
clear and alarming signs. To ayoid betraying them- 
selyes when in a state of drunkenness, the conspirators 
absolutely abstained from the use of brandy, and in the 
communes where they were in the majority, eyen re- 
solyed to shut up the habahi ; that is, the tayerns where 



JACOB STEFANOVIC. 49 

brandy, the only spirit used by the people, is sold. There 
was thus an infallible sign by which to recognise the 
progress of the movement. But how discover and thwart 
it ? Summary searches were made, and hundreds of 
arrests, but nothing was discovered. 

The peasants said not a word ; not even the stick 
made them open their mouths. An armed rising was 
imminent. It was reported that the conspirators were 
already secretly manufacturing pikes, like the Sans- 
culottes of Paris, and purchasing axes and knives. The 
Ispravnik sent a nuniber of vendors of axes and knives 
to a fair in order to see who would buy them. But the 
conspirators guessed his object, and no one went near 
them. 

The police were in despair, and did not know which 
way to turn. But one night there came to the Isprav- 
niTc the landlord of one of the Tcdbaki, a certain Kono- 
grai, who stated that a peasant named Pricodco had 
come to his house, and, being very tired, had drunk a 
glass of brandy, which immediately intoxicated him, as 
he had eaten nothing all the morning. In this drunken 
state he had cried out that in a short time everything 
would be overthrown, that he had already been ' sworn,' 
and had seen a ^ paper.' It was evident that he belonged 
to the conspiracy, and Konograi thereupon conceived 
the idea of joining the conspiracy himself through Pri- 
codco. But the oath was required, and he came to ask 
if the Ispravnik would authorise him to take it. The 
latter could not contain himself, he was so overjoyed. 



50 KEVOLUTIOXAEY PROFILES. 

He authorised the man to take as many oaths as he 
liked, encouraged him, and promised him money and 
land. In a word, Konograi took the oath, and Pricodco 
showed him the pai3ers, which were nothing less than 
the plan of the conspiracy. 

After reading it, Konograi turned to the other and 
said to him point blank : ' Listen. You know the 
names and everything. Now choose. Either we go to- 
gether to the Ispravnih with these same papers, and you 
will be pardoned and have as much money as you like, 
or it will be all oyer with you, for these papers are light, 
and I can carry them by myself.' 

In this dilemma the poor wretch, instead of killing 
him, turned traitor. 

He himself did not know all, but haying giyen the 
clue, it was not difficult to follow it up. In a short 
time the police had in their hands all the threads of the 
conspiracy, and the names of the conspirators. 

It was a most threatening matter. The number of 
the affiliated was about three thousand ; they extended 
through several provinces ; and they were organised in 
a military manner ; the signal of insurrection, and of 
civil war, was about to be given, at a popular festival. 

All this marvellous edifice was constructed in about 
eight months, and was the work of one man alone. That 
man was Jacob Stefan o vie. He conceived a plan of un- 
paralleled audacity. It was based not only upon the 
aspirations, but also upon the prejudices, of the people 
whom he knew thoroughly, having spent all his early 



JACOB STEFANOVIC. 51 

days among them. It was only partially approved by 
the party, and was not afterwards followed. 

The scheme failed. The Government, having in its 
hands all the documents, arrested more than a thousand 
persons, including all the leaders. The others escaped. 
Some time afterwards Stefanovic was also arrested by a 
stratagem, as he was going to a meeting, with the re- 
maining members of the conspiracy, and with him his 
friend Leo Deuc. The printer of the papers and of the 
proclamations, John Bokhanovsky, was arrested some 
days before. 

They were imprisoned at Kieff, and how secure that 
prison is I need scarcely say. Their trial was to take 
place in the summer of 1878. 

11. 

I spent that summer in St. Petersburg. I was very 

often at the house of Madam X., an able painter, and 

one of the most fervid adherents of our party. I had no 

duties to perform there, for Madam X., although she 

rendered important services to the common cause, worked 

in a branch of it to which I did not belong. But it was 

impossible to resist the fascination of her artistically 

elegant presence, and her spirited conversation full 

of imagination. And I was not the only one of the 

'illegal' ^ men to commit this little offence. 

' Once for all I must explain that this generic term is applied in 
Russia to everything that exists in despite of the law. Thus we 
have the illegal, that is, the secret press, and the illegal men, those 
who, having compromised themselves more or less seriously, can 



52 KEVOLUTIONAEY PEOFILES. 

Thus, I used to go there. One day, haying gone 
somewhat early, I did not find the lady, and remained 
waiting for her. Shortly afterwards Madam K., who 
was a great friend of the ' fanatics ' of Kieff and also a 
friend of mine, came in. We chatted. Half an hour 
passed thus. Suddenly there came a yiolent ringing at 
the bell of the antechamber. It could not be the mis- 
tress of the house, for I knew her mode of ringing the 
bell, neither could it be one of our members, for ' ours ' 
do not ring in that manner. It must be some '^author- 
ised ' person. It was a telegraph messenger. The tele- 
gram was addressed to Madam X., but Madam R. 
opened it, which did not in the least surprise me, know- 
ing their friendship. 

But after having glanced at it she started up, clapped 
her hands, and indulged in manifestations of the most 
unbridled delight. 

I was utterly amazed, for I knew that she was not of 
an excitable disposition. 

'What is the matter ?' I asked. 

' Look ! Look ! ' she exclaimed, giying me the tele- 
gram. 

I read it ; the address, and then four words only, ' Re- 
joice^ boy just born,' then the signature and nothing else. 

' Are you so fond of boys,' I asked, ' or of the mother 

who has given birth to one ? ' 

no longer live tinder their true names, as they would be imme- 
diately arrested ; and, therefore, changing their names, they live 
with a passport either false or lent by some friend who still pre- 
serves his ' legality.' 



JACOB STEFANOVIC. 53 

^ Mother ! boys ! ' exclaimed Madam E. waying her 
hands. ^ They have escaped from prison.' 

' Who ? who ? Where ? How V 

'Stefanoyic, Deuc, and Bokhanoysky ! FromKieff.' 

'All three?' 

'Eyery one of them.' 

I, too, then started up. 

A few days afte wards a letter came announcing the 
approaching arrival of Stefanoyic and Deuc in St. 
Petersburg. I was very anxious to make the acquain- 
tance of these worthy friends of ours, especially of 
Stefanoyic, with whom some years before I had had 
business relations.^ 

I begged the friend who was to meet him at the rail- 
way station to bring him to my house, if possible, on 
the night of his arrival. I was living with the passport 
of a high personage. I had an unoccupied room, and 
I was in the odour of sanctity with the dvornih and the 
landlady of the house. There was not the slightest 
danger. 

On the day fixed I awaited him. The train arrived 
at ten o'clock. I knew that he would first have to go 
somewhere else to change his clothes, and purify Mm- 
self, that is, throw the spies off his track in case they 
should have followed him from the station. He would, 
therefore, be unable to arrive before midnight. But 

^ With us everything relating to the Revolution is called ' busi- 
ness,' Of course, we do not mean commercial or such-fike busi- 
ness. 



54 BEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

even at eleven o'clock I could not contain my impa- 
tience, and looked at the clock every minute. The time 
passed very slowly. The house where I lived was so 
situated that they could only reach it by one long road, a 
very long road. I went out to see if they were coming. 

It was one of those wondrous bright nights which 
are among the greatest beauties of St. Petersburg, 
when the dawn and the sunset seem to embrace each 
other in the pallid starless sky, from which streams 
forth a rosy, soft, subtle and fantastic glow, and the 
light golden clouds float in an atmosphere of enchant- 
ing transparency. How I used to love those nights in 
times gone by, when alone in a little duscehuhha and 
with a single oar, I glided in the middle of the immense 
Neva, suspended between the arch of heaven and that 
other arch reflected in the black waters, which seemed 
of fathomless depth ; and how I began to hate them 
afterwards, those accursed and dangerous nights ! 

It was impossible to remain out ; I might be ob- 
served by a wandering spy or a policeman on duty and 
have them at my heels, which was not a pleasant 
thought on such a night. I returned more impatient 
than ever. But when midnight struck and no one 
came, my impatience changed into an actual anguish, 
unknown to other men, but which is the most agonising 
torture, and, so to speak, the daily torture of a Russian 
Revolutionist, who, parting with his friends or his wife 
for half an hour, is not sure that he will ever see them 
again. I was a prey to the gloomiest suspicions, when. 



JACOB STEFANOVIC. 6.5 

ten minutes after midnight, I heard the street door 
open. Then came steps upon my stairs ; I oj)ened the 
door. They were there. I immediately recognised Ste- 
fanovic, for, while he was in prison, the police took his 
photograph, as they do with all political prisoners. 
After his escape these photographs were distributed to 
the agents who had to search for him, and some of them 
naturally fell into our hands. 

I welcomed him without saying a word, and long 
pressed him in my arms. Then I warmly thanked my 
friend, and led Stefanovic into my room, regarding him 
with a look of affection. I could scarcely believe my 
eyes when I saw before me, restored to the light of day, 
and to our cause, this man who had already had the 
hangman's rope around his neck, and whom we all 
mourned as dead. 

By a tacit agreement we at once began to treat each 
other as old friends. We recalled our former intercourse. 
He told me that he did not expect to find me in St. 
Petersburg, for he had heard it rumoured in the country 
that I was still at Geneva. Being already acquainted 
with the details of his escape, I asked him in what man- 
ner he had travelled, as the stations were full of spies 
in search of him. 

He smiled and at once told me. I looked at him, 
this terrible man, who, defying everything, alone, 
without any other aid than his indomitable energy, had 
succeeded in rendering himself the absolute arbiter of 
so many thousands of those obstinate peasants, and 



56 REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

who was on the point of becoming the leader of a 
terrible insurrection. He was of middle height, and 
somewhat slender, hollow chested, and with narrow 
shoulders. Physically, he must have been very weak. 
I never saw an uglier man. He had the face of a negro, 
or rather of a Tartar, prominent cheek-bones, a large 
mouth, and a flat nose. But it was an attractive ugli- 
ness. Intelligence shone forth from his grey eyes. His 
smile had something of the malign and of the subtlely 
sportive, like the character of the Ukranian race to 
which he belongs. When he mentioned some clever 
trick played off upon the police he laughed most heartily, 
and showed his teeth, which were very fine, and white 
as ivory. His entire countenance, with his wrinkled 
forehead, and his cold, firm look, expressed a resolution 
and, at the same time, a self-command which nothing 
could disturb. I observed that, in speaking, he did not 
use the slightest gesture. 

We spoke of the common friends whom he had 
visited on the way, of the projects about which he had 
come to St. Petersburg, and of many other things, 

Che il tacer e bello, si com' era il parlar cola dov' era. 

I could not but appreciate the soundness of his judg- 
ment, upon many questions, which he always looked at 
from a very original and very practical side, but espe- 
cially his knowledge of men, whom he could estimate after 
a few days' acquaintance, though I observed that he 
always showed a somewhat pessimist tendency. 



JACOB STEFANOVIC. 57 

The day was far advanced when we finished our con- 
versation in order to take a little rest. 

III. 

Stefanovic remained for a whole month in St. Peters- 
burg. We saw each other very often. I afterwards had 
many opportunities of seeing him and of becoming ac- 
quainted with him, which is the same as saying, of loving 
him. He is a man of a very original and very complex 
disposition. He has great force of mind and character ; 
one of those who, under favorable circumstances, become 
prophetical. He has the extremely rare faculty of under- 
standing how to direct the masses, as he showed at 
Cighirino. But his force is not that which goes straight 
to its object, as a ball from a cannon, smashing and 
overthrowing everything that opposes it. No ; it is a 
force that delights in concealment, that bends, but only 
to stand firm again afterwards. He is said to be, and is 
believed to be, very astute. He is an extremely reserved 
man, entirely concentrated in himself. He speaks little ; 
in public meetings, never. He always listens quite 
doubled up, with his head bent as if asleep. -He never 
enters into any theoretical discussions, which he de- 
spises, and when he is compelled to be present at the 
reading of a ' programme ' or ^ memorandum ' he sleeps 
in very truth, and snores loudly. 

He is a man of action exclusively; but yet not of 

immediate action, like those whose hands itch to be at 

work. He knows how to wait. He is a man of far- 
3* 



58 EEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

reaching plans ; lie is the finest type of the organiser 
whom I have ever known. His clear and eminently 
practical mind, his firm and cautious character, his 
knowledge of men, and of the art of dealing with them, 
which he possesses in marvellous perfection, render him 
particularly adapted for this highly difiicult office. He 
is very sceptical with regard to men, but at the same 
time is capable of a friendship which borders on adora- 
tion. His most intimate friend is L., from whom he is 
never separated except when absolutely compelled by 
'business,' and then they write long letters to each other 
every day, which they jealously keep, showing them to 
no one, affording thus a subject of everlasting ridicule 
among their friends. Notwithstanding all the vicissi- 
tudes of his life, he has never broken off his intercourse 
with his father, an old village priest ; a somewhat dan- 
gerous thing in the case of a man who has thrown whole 
cities into commotion, when it was suspected that he 
would be found in them. He greatly loves and venerates 
his father and often speaks of him, relating with especial 
pleasure anecdotes of him, and quoting passages from 
his letters, which show his rude intelligence and his 
honest and upright heart. 



59 



DEMETRIUS CLEMENS. 

I. 

He is no longer so very young ; he is one of the oldest 
ciaikorziy and is now about thirty-six, or thirty-seyen 
years of age. He was arrested in March, 1879, and is 
now in Siberia. 

There is nothing of the conspirator in his bearing. 
He is a straightforward man, an excellent companion, 
an unrivalled talker ; his language is fluent, full of 
imagination and piquancy, adorned with all the treas- 
ures of the rich popular Eussian tongue, which he 
speaks as Giusti wrote the Tuscan. 

He is perhaps the best of our popular propagan- 
dists. He has a manner peculiar to himself, absolutely 
inimitable. It is not that of Katerina Bresckovskaia 
passionate and prophetic, nor is it Socratic and search- 
ing like that of Michael Kuprianoff, a young man of 
genius who died in prison at the age of nineteen. 
Demetrius Clemens carries on his propagandism in a 
facetious spirit. He laughs, and makes the old pea- 
sants, generally imperturbable, split their sides with 
laughter as they listen to him. He so contrives, how- 
ever, that with all this laughter some serious thought is 



60 REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

hammered into their heads and remains there. He was 
one of the most successful in obtaining adherents to So- 
cialism among the people, and the workmen of the towns. 
His addresses in some village Tcdbak, or humble 
tavern, were genuine masterpieces. I remember that, 
when I went with him upon some propagandist journey, 
I very often had no heart to introduce myself, and 
interrupt his inexhaustible flow of brilliant improvisa- 
tion, and, in spite of myself, instead of being a propa- 
gandist, became a mere listener and admirer of a work 
of art. His face is not at all handsome, somewhat 
ugly, but is one of those which once seen cannot be 
forgotten, so peculiar is it. The upper 2)art, with that 
broad forehead of the thinker, and those chestnut- 
coloured eyes, soft, vivacious, piercing, from which the 
light of a restrained acuteness shines forth, show him 
to be a European and a man of cultivated and elevated 
mind. From the eyes downwards, however, he might 
be taken for a Kalmuck, a Kirghis, a Baskir, it may be, 
but not for a representative of the Caucasian. Not that 
there is anything in it of the savage or deformed ; nay, 
his mouth with his thin and carved-like lips is very 
fine, and his smile has something very sweet and 
attractive. What strikes one, however, at first sight, 
and gives such a strange character to his entire coun- 
tenance, is a nose that cannot be subjected to any defi- 
nition ; broad, somewhat turned up, and so flat that, in 
proflle, it is almost imperceptible — a veritable freak of 
nature. 



DEMETRIUS CLEMENS. 61 

If we wanted to find two men to jjersonify by their 
characters, a complete antithesis in everything, we 
should find them in Jacob Stefanovic and Demetrius 
Clemens. 

The one is the type of a powerful organiser ; the 
other never organised any circle or secret society, and 
never tried to do so, in all his life. The one with his 
look, always fixed upon some great object, full of that 
cold fanaticism which stops before no human considera- 
tion, would have held out his hand to the devil himself, 
if the devil could have been of any use to him in the 
execution of his vast designs. The other, tranquil and 
serene in his devotion to the cause of Socialism, recog- 
nised no compromise, and was never led away by any 
considerations whatever of immediate utility. 

The former, gifted with an immense energy, and an 
immovable will, bent men and masses to an object selected 
and determined by himself alone. The other never bent 
anyone. He was absolutely incapable of it, and he even 
disliked those who seemed disposed to sacrifice their own 
will to his. 

Notwithstanding this, there was no man who had 
such unlimited infiuence over all around him, both in- 
dividuals and Circles, as Demetrius Clemens. 

A word of his terminated the bitterest discussion, 
settled differences which seemed irreconcilable. This 
unstudied influence which arose, so to speak, spon- 
taneously, wherever he entered, especially showed it- 
self in his personal intercourse. I have never known. 



62 EEYOLUTIONAKY PROFILES. 

or even heard of, a man who could arouse in so many 
persons a feeling, so profound, of friendship, or rather 
adoration, as Demetrius Clemens. I have seen several 
letters written to him by various persons. If I had not 
known from whom they came, and to whom they were 
addressed, I should have taken them for love letters. 

This feeding was not that transient enthusiasm, 
certain brilliant types are able to inspire, which glows 
with splendour for a moment, like fireworks, leaving 
behind it the darkness more profound. Demetrius 
Clemens is never forgotten. A heart once conquered 
by him, is his for ever, l^either time, nor distance, 
can destroy, or even weaken, the feeling experienced 
for him. 

What is there, then, about this extraordinary man 
which enables him thus to fascinate every heart ? 

He has a heart as boundless as the ocean. 

Not that he forms friendships very readily. No; 
like all men of deep feelings he is very slow to open 
his heart. Nay, all unconscious of his own qualities, 
he considers himself harsh and cold, and thus the feel- 
ings of devotion which he unwittingly arouses, oppress 
him, trouble him. Perhaps he believes himself incapa- 
ble of responding to them. They appear to him like 
stolen objects to which he has no right. 

No reproach of this kind, however, would ever be 
uttered by any of his many friends, for his moral gifts 
are such, that even the smallest which he bestows are 
treasures. 



DEMETEIUS CLEMENS. 63 

The affection felt for liirn counts for nothing in the 
loye which he feels for every one. He is truly incorrupt- 
ible. But there is no gift of mind or heart, among 
his friends, which he fails to discover, and exaggerate 
in his generosity. He never regards a person for the 
use he may be to the party. Among so many con- 
spirators he remains a man. When he accosts anyone 
he does not do so with any hidden object, as all organ- 
isers and conspirators are compelled to do ; for they 
have of necessity to turn all men to account as instru- 
ments of their designs. Everyone, therefore, feels at 
ease and confident with him. All are ready to give up 
their whole hearts to him, and blindly follow his every 
word, being certain that he will attentively watch over, 
and be the first to warn them if they run the slightest 
risk. 

And should he wish to send anyone on any danger- 
ous work, it would be undertaken without a single 
moment's hesitation. If but Demetrius Clemens says so 
there is no room for doubting that life must be risked ; 
otherwise he would not have advised it. 

Demetrius Clemens has, however, never acted thus. 
He himself has gone forth into danger, yery willingly, 
but not one man has he ever sent into danger in all his 
life. Even those little risks which an ^ illegal ' man is 
compelled to avoid as they often might cost him his life, 
while a legal man is only in danger of some few days' 
arrest — even these he has always taken upon himself, 
never allowing anyone to place himself in jeopardy for 



64 EEYOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

him. Xeitlier the remonstrances, nor the most bitter 
reproaches of his best friends, have eyer availed to shake 
this determination, or induce him not to risk his life so 
lightly — a life too precious to the cause. This was pre- 
cisely what Clemens would on no account recognise. 
He is modesty itself, although he has nothing of that 
degrading Christian humiliation bequeathed to us by 
ages of slavery and hypocrisy which often conceals the 
most unbridled arrogance. He, on the contrary, is in- 
dependent, proud of his dignity as a man, incapable of 
bending his head before anyone. 

Modesty seems in him the most natural thing in the 
world. He does not recognise in himself any of those 
marvellous gifts which have made him one of the most 
popular and most esteemed men of all the party ; a party 
certainly not wanting in firm minds, upright characters, 
or generous hearts. 

Owing to an optical illusion, not yet explained by 
scientific men, he sees all these qualities, not in himself 
but in his friends. 

11. 

Demetrius Clemens was born upon the banks of the 
Volga, where his father was a land steward, and passed 
all his youth in the midst of the rough population of 
the nomadic herdsmen of the immense Steppes, so 
well described in one of his poems, which I hope he 
will finish some day. 

From this adventurous life, face to face with nature. 



DEMETEIUS CLEMENS. Q5 

wild and imposing, his character derived that poetical 
sentiment, and that love of danger, which he has pre- 
served all his life. 

His courage, however, is as original as his manner 
of carrjring on his propagandism. He laughs at danger, 
not like a warrior who finds in it a stimulant, but like 
an artist who, so to speak, enjoys it placidly, especially 
its humorous side. 

His heart seems really incapable by nature of 
faltering. Amid the greatest danger Clemens is not 
the least excited. He keeps quite cool and laughs and 
jokes as though nothing were the matter. Hence 
arises his really extraordinary presence of mind. He 
extricates himself from the greatest perplexities with a 
marvellous dexterity, often with a vis comica, which 
shows that he thought nothing whatever of the danger, 
but delighted rather in certain positions which lend 
themselves to the humorous. He is capable of grave 
imprudence, not from braggadocio, for he has not the 
least trace of it, but from mere love of waggery. 

Thus, at the commencement of his revolutionary 
career being already ^wanted' by the police, although 
he had not yet taken a false passport, he went in 
person to the Procurator, to beg him to set at liberty, 
provisionally, a political prisoner, Anatol Serdinkoff, 
offering his own bail. Fortunately the Procurator, 
who was new in office, knew nothing about him, and 
Clemens played his part so well, that the official 
granted his request. But for a change io the arrange- 



66 BEVOLUTIONARY PEOFILES. 

ment of the trial of Serdinkoff, a political prisoner 
would actually have been released on the bail of a 
man who was himself a fugitive from justice. 

At other times his enterprises assumed the most 
humorous character, and he bestowed upon them a pro- 
fusion of detail, and a diligence of elaboration, like a 
true dilettante. To relate one among so many, I will 
cite his juvenile escapade of ten years ago ; the libera- 
tion of a certain Telsieff, compromised, but not gravely, 
in the trial of Neciaeff, and exiled by administrative 
order to Petrosavodsk, one of the towns of Northern 
Kussia. Clemens went there with false papers, as an 
engineer employed to make certain geological re- 
searches in Finland. He presented himself to all the 
authorities under the pretext of asking for the neces- 
sary information, and succeeded in fascinating all of 
them. Eor a whole week he remained at Petrosavodsk, 
and was the town-talk, people rivalling each other in 
entertaining him. Having quietly organised the 
escape of Telsieff, he departed in company with the 
latter, so as not to subject him to the risks of travelling 
alone. Notwithstanding this, Clemens played his part 
so well that no one at Petrosavodsk in the least sus- 
pected that he had had anything to do with the matter. 
A year afterwards, in fact, one of his friends was pass- 
ing through the same town, and the Ispravnilc asked 
him whether he knew a certain engineer named Sturm, 
and after having told the most marvellous stories 
respecting his stay at Petrosavodsk, added : 



DEMETRIUS CLEMENS. 67 

' A yery worthy man. He promised to pay us a visit 
when he returned from Finland, but we have not seen 
him since. More's the pity. Perhaps he returned by sea.' 

What would he have said, had he known who that 
engineer named Sturm was ? 

It is not, however, gifts of mind, nor those of heart, 
which form the most striking part of his individuality, 
so fertile and diversified. The most striking part is 
intellect. Clemens has one of the most powerful in- 
tellects to be found among our party. Notwithstand- 
ing the active part he has taken in the movement 
from its commencement, and all the tribulations of an 
* illegal' man, he has always kept up to the level of 
European intellectual progress, and, although naturally 
inclined towards economic science, has never confined 
himself to that branch alone. 

Eager for knowledge, he wished to laiow everything, 
without heeding whether he could derive from it any 
immediate advantage. 

I remember how delighted he was with Helmholtz's 
lectures on physics, which he attended in the year 
1875, while he was staying in Berlin. I had some 
trouble to make him discontinue sending abstracts of 
them to me in the letters which he wrote to me at St. 
Petersburg. 

His views were as wide as his eagerness for knowl- 
edge was ardent. 

He is not a party man. A Socialist of profound 
convictions, as a man so versed in economic and social 



68 EEVOLUTIONAEY PKOFILES. 

science could not fail to be, he brought to the service 
of our cause both his vast learning and his clear and 
perspicacious intelligence. But he was not made for 
the narrow limits of the secret society. For him the 
society to which he belonged could not become country, 
family, everything. He always lived somewhat apart. 
He had no trace of that party ambition which is one of 
the most powerful motives of the conspirator. He 
loved the whole world, and neglected no occasion of 
taking part in its life. Thus he wrote, not only for the 
secret press, but even more for the ' legal ' press, in 
various St. Petersburg reviews, under different pseu- 
donyms, and did so, not only because he wished to be 
more independent, and to live only by the fruits of his 
own labour, but because he wanted a larger audience, 
and wider subjects than the secret press could furnish 
him with. 

He has never sided with those groups which have 
so often divided the revolutionary party into hostile 
camps. Full of faith in Socialist principles, in general, 
he was very sceptical with regard to the different means 
which at various times the Eevolutionists looked upon 
as universal panaceas. This scepticism evidently 
paralysed his strength in an underground struggle, in 
which, owing to the narrow limits of the ground, only 
very exceptional means and methods can be adopted. 

As a conspirator, therefore, he was never of great 
importance. With his irresistible personal fascination, 
he could attract to the Socialist party a large number 



DEMETEIUS CLEMENS. 69 

of adherents from all classes, especially from among 
the young. But once having entered the party, he 
was absolutely incapable of guiding them to any fixed 
object ; others had to do that. 

Not that he was wanting in that force of character 
which makes a man arbiter of the will of others. On 
the contrary ; of this power he gives the most im- 
portant proof in his magnetic personal fascination. 
Nor was he wanting, even, in the power of making 
his own ideas prevail, when necessary. Without the 
slightest tinge of ambition, or vanity, he possesses in 
the highest degree the rare courage of going against 
the opinions, and the feelings of everybody, when they 
appear to him unreasonable. I remember well how 
often he stood alone in opposing the opinion of the 
entire party. 

But he has neither that authoritative spirit, nor that 
severity of mind, which spring from a passionate faith, 
and are necessary in leading a group of men to an 
undertaking, often desperate. 

In the revolutionary movement, therefore, he did 
not do the hundredth part of what, by his natural 
gifts, he should have been capable of doing. 

With his vast intellect and his noble character, he 
might have been one of those who lead a nation to a 
better future, but he is incapable of leading a band of 
young men to death. 

He is a splendid example of the thinker, with all his 
merits, and all his defects. 



70 



VALERIAN 08SINSKY. 

I. 

I HAD but few opportunities of seeing him, for, swift as 
the wind of the desert, he traversed all Russia, especially 
the southern part, in which were the principal Circles 
he was connected with, while I always remained in St. 
Petersburg. It was in that city I saw him when he 
came for only three or four days, to disappear afterwards 
like a lightning flash, and this time for eyer. 

It was an ugly time. General Mesentzeff had been 
killed in broad daylight, in one of the principal streets 
in the capital, and those by whom he was killed had dis- 
appeared without leaving any trace behind them. This 
being the first act of the kind, it produced an immense 
impression. The first moment of bewilderment over, 
the police scoured the whole city. Innumerable searches 
were made, and summary arrests took place in the streets 
on the slightest suspicion. The report ran, though per- 
haps it was an exaggeration, that during the first two 
days the number of arrests reached a thousand. 

It was extremely dangerous for us illegal men to show 
ourselves out of doors. I was compelled, therefore, to 
subject myself to one of the greatest annoyances which 



VALEEIAN OSSINSKY. 71 

can befall us in our troubled life, tliat of 'quarantine.' 
I went to the house of one of our most faithful friends, 
who occupied a post which placed him beyond all sus- 
picion on the part of the police ; and there I had to 
remain concealed without ever going out, eyen at night. 
It wearied me to death. I wrote a little work; and, 
when I could write no longer, I read French novels to 
kill time. From time to time some friends came, out 
of compassion, to see me. One day Olga N. came and 
told me that Valerian Ossinsky was in St. Petersburg. 
I did not know him personally, but had frequently heard 
of him. It was very natural that I should wish to see 
him, especially as it would be an excellent pretext for 
escaping for a day, at all events, from my insupportable 
imprisonment. 

I went out at dusk. The streets were almost de- 
serted, for my friend's house was in the outskirts of the 
capital. 

As the greatest precautions had, however, to be taken 
both in leaving and returning, I went in an opposite 
direction to that which I ought to have taken. After 
many turnings I entered a bustling street. I saw 
mounted Cossacks, lance in hand, and at every step 
began to run against spies, walking or standing about. 
It was the easiest thing in the world to recognise them. 
That embarrassed air, that glance full of suspicion and 
fear which they fix upon the face of every passer-by, are 
signs which do not deceive an experienced eye. These, 
however, were professional spies. The others, that is. 



72 EEVOLUTIONAKY PROFILES. 

the ' temporary ' spies, had a much more comical appear- 
ance. They were evidently only private soldiers dressed 
up as civilians, as could be seen at a glance. They 
always went about in little parties, and, like men accus- 
tomed for so many years to military service, could not in 
any way adapt themselves to irregular movements. They 
always, therefore, kept in file. They were dressed in the 
most grotesque manner. As in the hurry different 
clothes could not be obtained for each, whole detach- 
ments had the same hats, the same overcoats, the same 
trousers. Some wore great blue spectacles, as large as 
cart-wheels, to give themselves the appearance of stu- 
dents. It was such a comical sight tliat it was difficult 
to keep from laughing. 

After passing in review several of these detachments, 
I proceeded towards the head-quarters of our Circle. In 
passing through, a neighbouring lane, I raised my head 
to see if a little parasol still remained in a well-known 
window. It was the signal that all was quiet, for at the 
first alarm it would disappear. There it was. But as I 
laiew that the police, having heard of the employment 
of signals, not unfrequently examined thoroughly all the 
windows, and, after making an arrest, replaced every- 
thing which had been there before, I was not satisfied 
with this inspection, and kept on. After having turned 
several times to the right, and to the left, I entered a 
place where I was certain to find safe information, which 
no police in the world could get wind of, or use as a trap, 
even if apprised of it. 



VALERIAN OSSINSKY. "^3 

This place was a public latrine (if I may be allowed 
to say so). There, in a place agreed upon, I was sure to 
find an imperceptible signal, which was changed every 
morning ; and in times of great danger, twice a day. 
There was the sign, and it said, clearly enough, ^ quite 
quiet. ' All doubt was at an. end. 

However, as the ' Information Agency,' as we jest- 
ingly called this place, was more than a mile distant 
from our head-quarters, and as in going there I might 
attract the attention of some spy, I wished on the way 
to assure myself that I was not followed. I have never 
had the habit of looking back ; it is the most dangerous 
thing that can be imagined, and every one in a similar 
position should be expressly warned against it, for it is 
the most certain means of bringing spies about you. The 
best way to avoid being followed by them, is to pay no 
attention to them, and not to think about them at all. 
My case being, however, exceptional, on meeting a hand- 
some woman, I looked her full in the face, and when 
she had passed I turned round as though to look at her 
again. 

There was nobody. • 

I was just on the threshold of our retreat, and 
quietly ascended the stairs. I rang in a peculiar man- 
ner, and was at once admitted. 

The room was full of people. Upon the rough, 
wooden table were some bottles of beer, a dish of bacon, 
and another of salt fish. I had arrived, thus, at a lucky 
moment. It was one of our little ' banquets,' which. 



74: REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

from time to time, the Nihilists indulge in ; as a relief, 
perhaps, from the tension of mind in which they are 
always compelled to liye. It was the arrival of Ossinsky 
which was being celebrated on this occasion. He, how- 
ever, was not there. 

All being in the best of spirits, I was welcomed most 
amicably, notwithstanding that I had broken bounds, 
and I joined the merry party. I was very fond of these 
' banquets,^ for it is difficult to imagine anything more 
lively. All these men were ' illegal ' people, more or 
less seriously compromised. All carrie.d daggers in their 
belts, and loaded revolvers, and were ready in case of a 
surprise, to defend themselves to the last drop of their 
blood. But always accustomed to live beneath the sword 
of Damocles, they at last gave not the slightest heed to 
it. It was, perhaps, this very danger which rendered 
the merriment more unrestrained. Laughter and smart 
remarks were heard air over the room. And in the cor- 
ners, couples could be seen talking apart in a low voice ; 
they were friends, new and old, pouring out their 
hearts to each other — another peculiarity of these ban- 
quets. Now and then the traditional signs of the 
German ^ Bruderschaf t ' were to be seen. This need 
of giving unrestrained expression to feeling, so natural 
among people allied more by community of effort, 
ideas, and dangers, than by ties of blood, communi- 
cated to these rare gatherings something poetical and 
tender, which rendered them beyond measure attrac- 
tive. 



VALERIAN OSSINSKY. 75 

II. 

I asked for news of Ossinsky. They told me that he 
had gone to a friend's, but that he would come without 
fail shortly. 

In about half an hour, in fact, he entered the room, 
holding in his hand, encased in an elegant black glove, 
his hat with the regulation cockade, which he wore ex- 
pressly as a kind of passport. 

I advanced towards him. I shook him by the hand, 
and held it for a time in my own, being unable to take 
my eyes off him. 

He was as beautiful as the sun. Lithe, v/ell-propor- 
tioned, strong and flexible as a blade of steel. His head, 
with its flaxen hair somewhat thrown back, was grace- 
fully poised upon his delicate and sinewy neck. His 
high and fair forehead was furrowed, upon his somewhat 
narrow temple, by some blue veins. A straight nose, 
which in profile seemed as though it had been carved by 
an artistic chisel, gave to his countenance that character 
of classic beauty which is so rare in Eussia. Small 
whiskers, and an elegant flaxen beard, concealed a very 
delicate, expressive, eager mouth, and all this Apollo- 
like face was lighted up by two very fine blue eyes, large, 
intelligent, full of fire, and of youthful daring. 

He had come from Kieff, his favourite city, but had 
passed through all the principal towns of Southern 
Eussia ; from which, having visited all the revolutionary 
Cri'cles, he brought us the latest information of what 
was doing, and being projected. 



76 BEYOLUTIONAEY PEOFELES. 

He was delighted, beyond all expression, by the im- 
mense development which the Terrorism had taken in 
so short a time, and exaggerating it, with his fervid im- 
agination, anticipated from it incalculable results. I 
did not share all his over-sanguine hopes. When he 
spoke, however, it was impossible to resist the fascina- 
tion of his fiery eloquence. 

He was not a good speaker in the ordinary sense of 
the term, but there was in his words that force which 
springs from prof ound faith, that contagious enthusiasm 
which involuntarily communicates itself to the listener. 
The tone of his voice, the expression of his face, per- 
suaded not less than his words. He possessed the great 
gift of knowing how to make his hearers not opponents, 
but allies who endeavoured on their side to convince 
themselves, in order to be able to assent to his assertions. 

In listening to him I felt how true must be certain 
rumors attaching to his name. 

On the following day Ossinsky came to see me. 
Three or four days afterwards I again left my den, in 
order to proceed to our retreat, but I found there only a 
farewell note from Ossinsk}^, who had left the previous 
evening for Odessa. 

I never saw him again. 

In the spring of 1879 he was arrested at Kieff. His 
trial took place on May 5, 1879. He was condemned to 
death. The prosecution was unable to bring forward 
anything of importance against him. The one act for 



VALERIAN OSSINSKY. 77 

which he was convicted, was merely that of having felt 
for his revolver, without drawing it from his pocket. 
But the Government knew that it had in its clutches one 
of the most influential members of the Terrorist party, 
and this sufficed to determine it to dictate the sentence 
to the judges. 

He received the announcement of the sentence with 
head erect, like the true warrior he was. 

During the ten days which elapsed between the ver- 
dict and the sentence, he remained quite calm and 
cheerful. He encouraged his friends, and never had a 
single moment of dejection. When his mother and 
his sister came to visit him, although he knew that the 
sentence had already been confirmed by the Government, 
he told them that his punishment had been commuted ; 
but in an undertone he apprised his sister, a young 
girl of sixteen, that he should probably die on the mor- 
row, and begged her to prepare their mother for the sad 
intelligence. On the day of his execution he wrote a 
long letter to his friends, which may be called his polit- 
ical testament. He says very little in it of himself or of 
his sentiments. Completely absorbed in the work of 
the party, he directed his thoughts towards the means 
to be adopted, and the errors to be avoided. It is a 
monument erected by himself upon his ow^n tomb, which 
will never be forgotten. 

On , the morning of May 14, he was taken to the 
scaffold, with two of his companions, Antonoff, and 



78 BEVOLUTIONABY PKOFILES. 

Brantner. By a refinement of cruelty, his eyes were 
not bandaged, and he was compelled to look upon the 
agonising writhings of his companions, which in a short 
time, he was himself to undergo. At this horrible sight 
his physical nature, over which the will of man has no 
control, gave way, and the head of Valerian became, in 
five minutes, as white as that of an old man. But his 
spirit remained unsubdued. The vile gendarmes ac- 
costed him at this point, and suggested that he should 
petition for pardon. He repelled them indignantly, 
and, refusing the hand of the executioner, ascended the 
steps of the scaffold alone and with a firm step. A 
priest came to offer him the Cross. With an energetic 
shake of the head, he indicated that he would not recog- 
nise the ruler of heaven any more than the ruler of 
earth. 

The gendarmes ordered the military band of the 
troops which surrounded the scaffold, to play the Tcomar- 
inshaia, a lively and indecent song. 

A few minutes later. Valerian Ossinsky had ceased 

to exist. 

III. 

He was a man richly endowed with everything which 
gives us the power to command events. He was not an 
organiser. He was too sanguine to be able to provide 
for small matters, as well as great. All the force of his 
mind was concentrated upon one sole object, indicated 
to him by his almost infallible revolutionary instinct. 
He was always in the vanguard advocating plans, which 



VALERIAN OSSmSKY. 79 

sometimes were accomplished years afterwards. Thus 
in the year 1878, when the Terrorism was still in its 
infancy, he was already a partisan of Czaricide, and of 
the introduction into the revoliitionar}^ programme, of 
a distinct and outspoken demand for political changes. 

He was a man of action. While the Propagandist 
movement lasted he held aloof. It was only in the 
winter of the year 1877, when words gave place to deeds, 
that he joined the movement, and brought to it the aid 
of his fiery energy. 

He possessed in the highest degree one of the 
greatest of human forces, the faith which removes 
mountains. 

This faith he infused into all who approached him. 
He naturally became, thus, the soul of every under- 
taking in which he took part. With his extraordinary 
energy there was scarcely any revolutionary movement 
in the South of Russia in which he did not take part, as 
his friend Stefanovic declares, who also belongs to the 
South. No one could be dejected when Valerian 
Ossinsky was by his side ; for he animated everyone 
with his enthusiastic and steadfast faith and example. 
He was always the first to throw himself into the 
thickest of the fight, and undertook the most dangerous 
part in every enterprise. He was courageous to rash- 
ness. 

When a mere lad of eleven, hearing that a neigh- 
bour's house was surrounded by the band of a famous 
brigand, and there being none of his elders at home, he 



80 BEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

went with his father's gun upon his shoulder to render 
assistance. Fortunately the report was untrue and he 
returned uninjured. This little incident gives an idea 
of the courage of the future Terrorist. To give an idea 
of his chivalrous heart, it need only be said that this 
neighbour was a mortal enemy of his father, and of all 
his family. 

As an illustration of the irresistible influence of his 
language I will cite a fact, which is certainly not very 
important, but nevertheless is very characteristic. 
Valerian Ossinsky was one of the most famous collectors 
of money. The Eevolutionary party, especially after 
the Terrorism had been elevated into a system, had 
great need of money, and to find it was always a most 
difficult task. 

In this branch few could be compared with Valerian 
Ossinsky. His achievements of this nature were com- 
mon talk, so marvellous were they. A close-fisted 
gentleman or a miserly old lady would be profuse in 
their pity for the Eevolutionists, and in their sympathy 
with liberal ideas, and yet kept their purse strings 
tight, and were the despair of all who tried to induce 
them to give more efficacious indications of their senti- 
ments. The cleverest succeeded in obtaining from 
them only some ten or twenty roubles, and these were 
lucky indeed. 

Let but Valerian Ossinsky present himself, however, 
and the close-fisted gentleman and the miserly old lady 
opened their heavy purses with a sigh, and drew forth. 



VALEBIAN OSSINSKY. 81 

in some cases, five thousand, in other cases ten thousand 
roubles, sometimes more, and gave them to this irresisti- 
ble young man, whose language was so eloquent, whose 
countenance was so attractive, and whose bearing was 
so gentle and courteous. 

He had nothing about him of the pedantic moralist, 

or of the priest. He was a warrior, strong of heart and 

arm.. He loved danger, for he was at home in it, as in his 

natural element. The struggle inflamed him with its 

feverish excitement. He loved glory. He loved women 

— and was loved in return. 
4* 



82 



PETER KRAPOTKINE. 



I. 



He is not the leader of the Nihilist movement, as he is 
called throughout Europe. He has not even the least 
influence over the modern Eussian revolutionary move- 
ment ; no literary influence, for ever since he has resided 
abroad he has never written except in the French lan- 
guage ; no personal influence, for at this moment he is 
known in Eussia only by name. This fact, however 
strange it may appear to the reader, is the natural con- 
sequence of another. Krapotkine is a refugee ; and 
the political refugees, who reside in the various cities of 
Europe, have not the slightest influence, whether sepa- 
rately or collectively, upon the revolutionary movement 
of their country. 

The thing may appear incredible, yet any man of 
judgment who thinks about it for a single moment, will 
not fail to recognise the absolute truth of my assertions. 
Only two things have to be taken into consideration, the 
general character of the Eussian movement, and the dis- 
tance between Eussia and the countries in which the 
refugees can reside, Switzerland, France, Italy, Eng- 
land ; for no one would trust himself either in Prussia 



PETER KRAPOTKINE. 83 

or Austria. I will cite one single fact. To exchange 
letters with Switzerland, which is the nearest country of 
all, a fortnight must always elapse, allowing a few days 
for the reply. 

Now, an order, supposing one has to be given, or 
even advice, would reach St. Petersburg a fortnight, or, 
at all events, ten days after it had been asked for. 'Now 
in Eussia the struggle is no longer carried on exclusively 
by mental effort, as it was five years ago. It is a struggle, 
arms in hand, a thorough war, in which the minutest 
precautions have to be taken in accordance with the 
latest movements of the enemy. Let us suppose that an 
attempt against the Emperor is being prepared. The 
slightest change in his itinerary, in the route he will 
take, in the measures he will adopt for his safety, im- 
mediately cause the whole plan of attack to be changed. 

What orders could be given from London, from 
Paris, from Switzerland ? Who would be so stupidly 
presumptuous as to believe himself in a position to give 
them ? Who would be so stupid as to attribute any 
value to them ? Let us suppose for a moment, that a 
general wished to carry on a war in Turkey, while re- 
maining in St. Petersburg. What would be said by 
every man with a particle of judgment ? Yet this 
general would have an immense advantage, that of pos- 
sessing the telegraph, while we have nothing but the 
laggard post. 

It being impossible, therefore, for a refugee to direct 
operations, or even to give advice, of any value, upon 



84 EEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

Russian matters, why should he be informed beforehand 
of what is being prepared in Russia ? To run the risk 
of some letter falling into the hands of the police ? To 
increase the perils of this Titanic struggle, as though 
there were not enough already ? 

We haye thus another fact resulting from the pre- 
ceding. Even the refugees connected with those who 
belong to the party, and who take an active part in 
everything, have not the slightest knowledge of what is 
being prepared in Russia. From time to time, out of 
pure friendship, they receive some vague hint, without 
ever knowing anything for certain, respecting the place, 
time, or mode of execution of the project in embryo. 
Why communicate such things, even to the best of 
friends, merely to satisfy curiosity ? It would be a 
crime, an infamy, a dishonest act ; and every earnest man 
would be the first to reproach a friend for such an act. 
Thus events, such as the putting to death of Alexander 
II., and the explosion in the Winter Palace, were as much 
of a surprise to the refugees as to the rest of the world. 

The political influence of the Russian refugees at 
the present moment is reduced, therefore, absolutely to 
zero. Foreign countries are only resting places ; har- 
bours which everyone makes for, whose barque has been 
wrecked or disabled by the furious waves. Until they 
can refit, and steer towards their native shore, the refu- 
gees are poor castaways. They may be as intrepid as 
ever, but they can only stand with folded arms, regard- 
ing with envious eyes the country where the combatants 



PETEE KKAPOTKINE. 85 

are fighting, dying, conquering, while they, sad and idle, 

stifle in their forced inaction, strangers in a strange 

land. 

11. 

Krapotkine is one of the oldest of the refugees. For 
six years he has continually lived abroad, and during 
all that time has, therefore, been unable to take the 
slightest part in the Kussian reyolutionary movement. 
This does not alter the fact, however, that he is one of 
the most prominent men of our party, and as such I will 
speak about him. 

He belongs to the highest Eussian aristocracy. 
The family of the Princes of Krapotkine is one of 
the few which descend in right line from the old feuda- 
tory Princes of the ancient royal House of Rurik. In 
the Circle of the ciaiJcovzi to which he belonged, it used 
thus to be jestingly said of him, that he had more right 
to the throne of Russia than the Emperor, Alexander II., 
who was only a German. 

He studied in the College of the Pages, to which only 
the sons of the Court aristocracy are admitted. He 
finished his course there with the highest distinction, 
towards the year 1861, but impelled by love of study, 
instead of entering the service of the Court, he went to 
Siberia to pursue some geological researches. He re- 
mained there several years, taking part in many scientific 
expeditions, and obtained through them a vast amount 
of information which he afterwards utilised in conjunc- 
tion with M. Elisee Reclus. He also visited China. 



8Q REVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

On* returning to St. Petersburg, he was elected a 
member and afterwards secretary of the Geographical 
Society. He wrote several works, highly appreciated by 
scientific men, and finally undertook a great work upon 
the glaciers of Finland, which, owing to a petition of 
the Geographical Society, he was permitted to terminate, 
when already confined in the fortress. He could not 
relieve himself from the necessity of entering the Court 
service. He was Chamberlain of the Empress, and 
received several decorations. 

In the year 1871, or at the commencement of 1872, 1 do 
not quite remember which, he went abroad. He visited 
Belgium and Switzerland, where at that time the ' Inter- 
nationale ' had assumed such proportions. His ideas, 
which certainly were always advanced, took their definite 
shape. He became an Internationalist, and adopted the 
ideas of the most extreme party, the so-called anarchical 
party, of which he has always remained a fervent 
champion. 

On returning home he put himself in communication 
with the revolutionary Circle, .inspired by the same 
ideas, that of the ciaihovzi, and in the year 1872 was 
proposed as a member, and admitted by unanimity. 
He was entrusted with the duty of drawing up the pro- 
gramme of the party, and its organisation, which was 
afterwards found among his papers. In the winter of 
1872 he commenced his secret lectures upon the history 
of the 'Internationale,' which were simply the develop- 
ment of the principles of Socialism, and the Revolution, 



PETEE KRAPOTKINE. 87 

based upon tlie history of all the modern popular move- 
ments. These lectures, which to depth of thought 
united a clearness and a simplicity that rendered them 
intelligible to the most uncultivated minds, excited the 
deepest interest among the working men of the Alex- 
ander- ISTevsky district. They spoke about them to their 
fellow workmen, and the news quickly spread through 
all the workshops of the neighbourhood, and naturally 
reached the police, who determined at all hazards to 
find out the famous Borodin, for it was under that fic- 
titious name Krapotkine gave his lectures. But they 
did not succeed. In two months' time, having finished 
his lectures, he no longer showed himself in the house 
under surveillance, and made preparations to go among 
the peasants, and carry on the agitation as an itinerant 
painter ; for in addition to his vast erudition, he has 
much artistic talent. 

The police succeeded, however, in bribing one of the 
workmen, who consented to play the spy, and peram- 
bulated the principal streets, hoping some day or other 
to meet with 'Borodin.' In this he succeeded. After 
some few months he met Krapotkine in the Gostini 
Dvor upon theN'evski Prospekt, and pointed him out to 
a policeman. The supposititious Borodin was arrested. 
At first he would not tell his real name, but it was im- 
possible to conceal it. Some days afterwards the land- 
lady of the house in which he had hired a room, came 
to declare that one of her lodgers. Prince Peter Krapot- 
kine, had suddenly disappeared on such a day. On being 



88 BEVOLUTIONAKY PROFILES. 

taken to the spurious Borodin she recognised him, and 
Krapotkine was compelled to acknowledge his identity. 

Great was the emotion produced at Court by the 
arrest of such a high personage. The Emperor himself 
was excited by it to such an extent, that a year after- 
wards, in passing through Karkoff, where a cousin of 
Peter, Alexis Krapotkine, killed in the year 1879, was 
Goyernor, he was extremely discourteous to him, and 
abruptly asked if it was true that Peter was a relation. 

Three years did Krapotkine pass in the cells of the 
fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the early part 
of 1876, he was transferred by the doctor's orders to 
the St. Nicholas Hospital, the prison haying undermined 
his health, neyer yery good, to such an extent, that he 
could neither eat nor moye about. In a few months, 
howeyer, it was re-established, but he did eyerything 
in his power to hide the fact. He walked with the 
step of a dying man; he spoke in a low yoice, as if 
merely to open the mouth were a painful effort. The 
cause was yery simple. He learned through a letter 
sent to him by his friends, that an attempt was being 
organised to effect his escape, and as in the hospital 
the suryeillance was much less strict than in the for- 
tress, it was essential to prolong his stay there. 

In the July of the year 1876 this escape was 
effected in accordance with a plan drawn up by Krapot- 
kine himself. I will relate it in one of my subsequent 
sketches, for it was a masterpiece of accurate calculation 
and resolution. 



PETEB KEAPOTKINE. 89 

III. 

Some weeks afterwards Krapotkine was already 
abroad. 

From this period his true revolutionary activity 
dates. Although not connected with the Kussian move- 
ment, being exclusively devoted to European Socialism, 
it was perhaps the only means of displaying his eminent 
political qualities in their true light. His great gifts 
specially qualify him for activity in the vast public 
arena, and not in the underground regions of the Secret 
Societies. 

He is wanting in that flexibility of mind, and that 
faculty of adapting himself to the conditions of the 
moment, and of practical life, which are indispensable 
to a conspirator. He is an ardent searcher after truth, 
a founder of a school, and not a practical man. He 
endeavours to make certain ideas prevail, at all cost, 
and not to attain a practical end, by turning everything 
tending to it to account. 

He is too exclusive, and rigid in his theoretical 
convictions. He admits no departure from the ultra- 
anarchical programme, and has always considered it 
impossible, therefore, to contribute to any of the revo- 
lutionary newspapers in the Russian language, published 
abroad and in St. Petersburg. He has always found in 
them some point of divergence, and, in fact, has never 
written a line in any of them. 

It may be doubted whether he could ever be the 
leader, or even the organiser of a party, with conspiracy 



90 EEVOLUnONARY PROFILES. 

as its sole means of action. For conspiracy, in the 
great Revolutionary struggle, is like guerrilla fighting 
in military warfare. The men are few, and therefore 
all must be made use of. The ground is confined, and 
therefore must be turned to the best account ; and a 
good guerrilla soldier is the man who knows how to 
adapt himself to the exigencies of the ground, and of 
the moment. 

Krapotkine's natural element is war on a grand 
scale, and not guerrilla fighting. He might become 
the founder of a vast Social movement, if the condition 
of the country permitted. 

He is an incomparable agitator. G-ifted with a 
ready • and eager eloquence, he becomes all passion 
Avlien he mounts the platform. Like all true orators, 
he is stimulated by the sight of the crowd which is 
listening to him. Upon the platform this man is trans- 
formed. He trembles with emotion ; his voice vibrates 
with that accent of profound conviction, not to be mis- 
taken or counterfeited, and only heard when it is not 
merely the mouth which speaks, but the innermost 
heart. His speeches, although he cannot be called an 
orator of the first rank, produce an immense impres- 
sion; for when feeling is so intense it is communica- 
tive, and electrifies an audience. 

When, pale and trembling, he descends from the 
l^latform, the whole room throbs with applause. 

He is very effective in private discussions, and can 
convince and gain over to his opinions, as few can. 



PETER KRAPOTKINE. 91 

Being thoroughly versed in historical science, especially 
in everything relating to j^opular movements, he draws 
with marvellous effect from the vast stores of his eru- 
dition, in order to support and strengthen his assertions 
with examples and analogies, very original and unex- 
pected. His words thus acquire an extraordinary power 
of persuasion, which is increased by the simplicity and 
clearness of his explanations, due, perhaps, to his pro- 
found mathematical studies. 

He is not a mere manufacturer of books. Beyond 
his purely scientific labors, he has never written any 
work of much moment. He is an excellent journalist, 
ardent, spirited, eager. Even in his writings, he is still 
the agitator. 

To these talents he adds a surprising activity, 
and such dexterity in his labours, that it has aston- 
ished even a worker like Elisee Eeclus. 

He is one of the most sincere and frank of men. 
He always says the truth, pure and simple, without 
any regard for the amour propre of his hearers, or for 
any consideration whatever. This is the most striking 
and sympathetic feature of his character. Every word 
he says may be absolutely believed. His sincerity is 
such, that sometimes in the ardour of discussion an 
entirely fresh consideration unexpectedly presents itself 
to his mind, and sets him thinking. He immediately 
stops, remains quite absorbed for a moment, and then 
begins to think aloud, speaking as though he were an 



92 REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

opponent. At other times he carries on this discussion 
mentally, and after some moments of silence, turning 
to his astonished adversary, smilingly says, *You are 
right.' 

This absolute sincerity renders him the best of friends, 
and gives especial weight to his praise and blame. 



93 



DEMETRIUS LISOGUB, 

I. 

Ik the December of the year 1876 I was present one day 
at one of those ' Students' meetings/ as they are called ; 
one of the best means of propagandism among the young, 
and very characteristic of Russian life. It need scarcely 
be said that they are rigorously prohibited. But such 
is the abyss that separates society from the Goyernment, 
that they are held, and were always held even in the 
worst periods of the White Terror. Sometimes they are 
very large meetings, almost public, and extremely 
stormy. 

The danger by which they are surrounded commu- 
nicates to them a special attraction for the young, 
giving to the discussions that passionate character which 
contributes so much to transform an idea into a warlike 
weapon. 

The meeting of which I speak, however, was not a 
large one, and was very quiet. It was occupied with a 
project so frequently brought forward and so frequently 
ending in nothing, for uniting in a single organisation 
all the secret Circles established among the young. The 
thing being evidently impracticable, owing to the great 



94 REVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

yariety of those Circles, the project might be regarded 
as still-born. Even the promoters of the meeting seemed 
half convinced of this. The discussions therefore 
dragged on wearily, and had no interest. 

Among the few persons present, there was, however, 
one who succeeded in arousing the general attention, 
whenever, during the languishing discussion, he made 
some little observation, always spirited and slightly 
whimsical. He was tall, pale, and somewhat slim. He 
wore a long beard, which gave him an apostolic appear- 
ance. He was not handsome. . It is impossible to 
imagine, however, anything more pleasant than the ex- 
pression of his large blue eyes, shaded by long eyebrows, 
or anything more attractive than his smile, which had 
something infantile about it. His voice, somewhat slow 
in utterance and always pitched in the same key, soothed 
the ear, like the low notes of a song. It was not a mu- 
sical voice, but it had the power of penetrating into the 
very heart, so sympathetic was it. 

He was very poorly clad. Although the Eussian 
winter was raging, he wore a linen jacket with large 
wooden buttons, which from much wear and tear seemed 
a mere rag. A worn-out black cloth waistcoat covered 
his chest to the throat. His trousers, very light in 
colour, could be seen underneath the black line of his 
waistcoat every time he rose to say a wOrd or two. 

When the meeting broke up and those attending it 
went away, not all at once, but in groups of three or 
four persons, as is always the case in Kussia upon si mi- 



DEMETKIUS LISOGUB. 95 

lar occasions, I left with my friend together with this 
stranger. I observed that he had only a thin paletot, an 
old red comforter, and a leather cap. He did not even 
wear the traditional * plaid' of the Nihilists, although 
the temperature was at least twenty degrees below zero. 

After bowing to my friend, whom he evidently was 
slightly acquainted with, the stranger went on his way, 
almost running to warm himself a little, and in a few 
moments disappeared in the distance. 

^ Who is he ? ' I asked my friend. 

'He is Demetrius Lisogub,' was the' reply. 

' Lisogub, of Cernigov ? ' 

'Precisely.' 

Involuntarily I looked in the direction in which this 
man had disappeared, as though I could still discern 
traces of him. 

This Lisogub was a millionaire. He had a very large 

estate in one of the best provinces of Russia, land, 

houses, forests ; but he lived in greater poverty than the 

humblest of his dependents, for he devoted all his money 

to the cause. 

11. 

Two years afterwards we met again in St. Petersburg 
as members of the same Revolutionary organisation. 
Men know each other as thoroughly in such organisa- 
tions as in the intimacy of family life. 

I will not say that Demetrius Lisogub Avas the 
purest, the most ideal man whom I have ever known, 
for that would be to say too little of him. I will say 



96 BEVOLUTIONAKY PKOFILES. 

that in all our party there was not, and could not, 
be a man to compare with him in ideal beauty of 
character. 

The complete sacrifice of all his immense wealth 
was in him the least of his merits. Many have done 
the same in our party, but another Demetrius Lisogub 
is not to be found in it. 

Under an aspect tranquil and placid as an un- 
clouded sky, he concealed a mind full of fire, of enthu- 
siasm, of ardour. His conyictions were his religion, 
and he devoted to them, not only all his life, but what 
is much more difficult, all his thoughts. He had no 
other thought than that of serving his cause. He had 
no family. Love did not disturb him. His parsimony 
was carried to such an extreme, that friends were 
obliged to interfere in order to prevent him falling ill 
from excessive privation. To every remonstrance he 
replied, as if he foresaw his premature end : 

' Mine will not be a long life. ' 

And in truth it was not. 

His determination not to spend a single farthing of 
the money with which he could serve the cause, was 
such, that he never indulged in an omnibus, to say 
nothing of a cab, which costs so little with us that 
every workman takes one on Sunday. 

I remember that one day he showed us two articles, 
forming part of his dress suit, which he wore when, owing 
to his position, he was compelled to pay a visit to the 
Governor of Oernigov, or to one of the heads of the 



DEMETRIUS LISOGUB. 97 

Superior Police. They were a pair of gloves and an 
opera hat. The gloves were of a very delicate ash 
colour, and seemed just purchased. He, however, told 
us that he had already had them for three years, and 
smilingly explained to us the little artifices he adopted 
to keep them always new. The hat was a much more 
serious matter, for its spring had been broken a whole 
year, and he put off the expense of purchasing a new 
one from day to day, because he always found that he 
could employ his money better. Meanwhile, to keep 
up his dignity, he entered the drawing-room holding 
his opera-hat under his arm, his eternal leather cap, 
which he wore summer and winter alike, being in his 
pocket. When he passed into the street, he advanced 
a few steps with his head uncovered, as though he had 
to smooth his disarranged hair, until, being assured 
that he was not observed, he drew the famous cap from 
his pocket. 

This money, however, that he endeavoured to save 
with the jealous care of a Harpagon, was his determined 
enemy, his eternal torment, his curse ; for, with his 
impassioned disposition and with his heart so prone to 
sacrifice, he suffered immensely from being compelled to 
remain with his arms folded, a mere spectator of the 
struggle and of the martyrdom of his best friends. 

Subjected to a rigorous surveillance, having been 
denounced for participation in the Eevolutionary move- 
ment by his relations, vv^ho hoped, if he were con- 
demned, to inherit his fortune, he could do nothing. 



98 EEYOLUTIOXAEY PROFILES. 

for, at the first step, liis property would have been 
taken awaj from him, and his party would thereby 
have been deprived of such indispensable assistance. 
Thus his fortune was, to him, like the cannon-ball 
attached to the leg of a galley slave, it hindered him 
from moving abont. 

nis involuntary inaction was not only an annoy- 
ance, a cruel vexation, as it could not fail to be to a 
man "who united in himself the ardour of a warrior with 
that of a prophet, it was also a source of profound moral 
suffering. With the modesty of a great mind, he at- 
tributed to himself not the slightest merit for what 
seemed to him the most natural thing in the world 
— the renunciation of his wealth, and his life of pri- 
vation. 

Merciless towards himself as a cruel judge, who will 
not hear reason, and refuses to consider anything but 
the crime, pure and simple, he regarded his inactivity, 
"which was only an act of the highest abnegation, as a 
disgrace. Yet this man, who, at the sacrifice of his 
own aspirations, sustained for a year and a half almost 
the whole Eussian revolutionary movement ; this man, 
who by his moral qualities inspired unbounded admira- 
tion among all who knew him ; who, by his mere 
presence, conferred distinction on the party to which he 
belonged ; this man regarded himself as the humblest of 
the very humble. 

Hence arose his profound melancholy, which never 
left him, and showed itself in his every word, notwith- 



DEMETRIUS LISOGUB. 99 

standing the sorrowfully whimsical tone he was accus- 
tomed to adopt, in order to conceal it. 

Thus, resigned and sad, he bore his cross, which 
sometimes crushed him beneath its weight, throughout 
his whole life, without ever rebelling against his cruel 
lot. 

He was a most unhappy man. 

He was arrested at Odessa in the autumn of the year 
1878, on the accusation of his steward, Drigo, who was 
a friend, but who betrayed him because the Government 
promised to give him what still remained of the patri- 
mony of Lisogub, — about^4,000. 

Although a yeritable White Terror was preyailing at 
that time, and in Odessa, where he was to be tried, the 
hero of Sebastopol, and of Plevna, the infamous ruffian 
and oppressor. Count Totdleben, was in a fury, no one 
expected a severer punishment for Lisogub than trans- 
portation to Siberia, or j)erhaps some few years of hard 
labour; for nothing else was laid to his charge than 
that of having spent his own money, no one knew how. 
The evidence, however, of Drigo left no doubt upon the 
very tender conscience of the military tribunal. 

Amid universal consternation, Demetrius Lisogub 
was condemned to death. Eye-witnesses state that, 
after hearing his sentence, his jaw fell, so great was his 
astonishment. 

He scornfully refused the proposal made to him to 
save his life by petitioning for pardon. 



100 REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

On August 8, 1879, he was taken to the scaffold in 
the hangman's cart with two companions, Ciubaroff and 
Davidenko. 

Those who saw him pass, say that not only was he 
calm and peaceful, but that his pleasant smile played 
upon his lips when he addressed cheering words to his 
companions. At last he cduld satisfy his ardent desire 
to sacrifice himself for his cause. It was perhaps the 
happiest moment of his unhappy life. 

Stefan ovic was the Organiser ; Clemens the Thinker ; 
Ossinsky the Warrior ; Krapotkine the Agitator. 
Demetrius Lisogub was the Saint. 



101 



JE88Y HELFMAK 

Thebe are unknown heroines, obscure toilers, who offer 
up everything upon the altar of their cause, without 
asking anything for themselves. They assume the 
most ungrateful parts ; sacrifice themselves for the 
merest trifles ; for lending their names to the corre- 
spondence of others ; for sheltering a man, often un- 
known to them ; for delivering a parcel without know- 
ing what it contains. Poets do not dedicate verses to 
them ; history will not inscribe their names upon its 
records ; a grateful posterity will not remember them. 
Without their labour, however, the party could not 
exist ; every struggle would become impossible. 

Yet the wave of history carries away one of these 
toilers from the obscure concealment in which she ex- 
pected to pass her life, and bears her on high upon its 
sparkling crest, to a universal celebrity. Then all 
regard this countenance, which is so modest, and dis- 
cern in it the indications of a force of mind, of an abne- 
gation, of a courage, which excite astonishment among 
the boldest. 

Such is precisely the story of Jessy Helfman. 

I did not know her personally. If I deviate, how- 



102 REVOLUTIONAKY PEOFILES. 

ever, in this case from my plan of speaking only of 
those whom I know personally, I do not do so be- 
cause of the fame which her name has gained, but be- 
cause of her moral qualities, to which her celebrity 
justifies allusion. I am sure the reader will be grate- 
ful to me for this, as her simple and sympathetic 
figure characterises the party which I am depict- 
ing, better perhaps than an example of exceptional 
power ; just as a modest wild-flower gives a better idea 
of the flora of a country, than a wonderful and rare plant. 

Jessy Helfman belonged to a Jewish family, fanat- 
ically devoted to their religion, a type unknown in 
countries where civilisation has eradicated religious 
hatred, but which is very common in Eussia. Her 
family regarded as an abomination everything derived 
from Christians, especially their science, which teaches 
its disciples to despise the religion of their fathers. 
Jessy, excited by the new idea, and nnable to bear 
this yoke, fled from her parents' house, taking with 
her, as her sole inheritance, the malediction of these 
fanatics, who would willingly have seen her in her 
coffin rather than fraternising with the 'goi.' The 
girl proceeded to Kieff, where she worked as a semp- 
stress. 

The year 1874 came, ^he Revolutionary moTcment 
spread everywhere, and reached even the young Jewish 
sempstress. 

She made acquaintance with some of the ladies, who 



JESSY HELFMAN. 103 

had returned from Zurich, and wlio afterwards figured 
in the trial of the fifty, and they induced her to join 
the moYement. Her part, however, was a yery modest 
one. She lent her address for the Kevolutionary corres- 
pondence. When, however, the conspiracy was discov- 
ered, this horrible 'crime' subjected her to two years, 
neither more nor less, of imprisonment, and a sentence 
of two more years' detention at Litovsky. Shut up with 
four or five women, confined for participation in the 
same movement, Jessy for the first time was really initi- 
ated into the principles of Socialism, and surrendered 
herself to them body and soul. She was, however, un- 
able to put her ideas into practice, for, after haying 
undergone her punishment, instead of being set at lib- 
erty she was by order of the police interned in one of the 
northern provinces, and remained there until the autumn 
of the year 1879, when, profiting by the carelessness of 
her guardians, she escaped and went to St. Petersburg. 
Here, full of enthusiasm, which increased in her all the 
more from having been so long restrained, she threw 
herself ardently into the struggle, eager to satisfy that 
intense craving to labour for the cause which became in 
her a passion. 

Always energetic, and always cheerful, she was con- 
tent with little, if she could but labour for the benefit of 
the cause. She did everything ; letter-carrier, mes- 
senger, sentinel ; and often her work was so heavy 
that it exhausted even her strength, although she was a 
woman belonging to the working classes. How often 



104 EEVOLUTIONARY PKOFILES. 

has she returned home, late at night, worn out, and at 
the end of her strength, having for fourteen houi-s 
walked about all over the capital, throwing letters into 
various holes and corners with the proclamations of the 
Executive Committee. But on the following day she 
rose and recommenced her work. 

She was always ready to render every service to any- 
one who needed it, without thinking of the trouble it 
might cost her. She never gave a single thought to her- 
self. To give an idea of the moral force and boundless 
devotion of this simple, uneducated woman, it will suf- 
fice to relate the story of the last few months of her 
revolutionary activity. Her husband, Nicholas Kolot- 
kevic, one of the best known and most esteemed members 
of the Terrorist party, was arrested in the month of 
February. A capital sentence hung over his head. But 
she remained in the ranks of the combatants, keeping 
her anguish to herself. Although four months pregnant, 
she undertook the terrible duty of acting as the mistress 
of the house where the bombs of Kibalcic were manu- 
factured, and remained there all the time, until, a week 
after March 13, she was again arrested. 

On the day of her sentence she stood cheerful and 
smiling before the tribunal, which was to send her to 
the scaffold. She had, however, a sentence more horri- 
ble, that of waiting for four months for her punishment. 
This moral torture she bore during the never-ending 
months without a moment of weakness, for the Grovern- 
ment, not caring to arouse the indignation of Europe by 



JESSY HELFMAN. 105 

hanging her, endeavoured to profit by her position, to 
extract some revelations from her. It prolonged, there- 
fore, her moral torture until her life might have been 
endangered, and did not commute her sentence until 

some weeks before her confinement. 
5* 



106 



VERA ZASSULIC. 

Ik fhe whole range of history it would be difficult, and, 
perhaps, impossible to find a name which, at a bound, 
has risen into such uniyersal and undisputed celebrity. 

Absolutely unknown the day before, that name was 
for months in every mouth, inflaming the generous 
hearts of the two worlds, and it became a kind of syno- 
nym of heroism and sacrifice. The person, however, 
who was the object of this enthusiasm obstinately 
shunned fame. She avoided all ovations, and, although 
it was very soon known that she was already living 
abroad, where she could openly show herself without 
any danger, she remained hidden in the crowd, and 
would never break through her privacy. 

In the absence of correct information imagination 
entered the field. AYho was this dazzling and mysteri- 
ous being ? her numerous admirers asked each other. 
And everyone painted her according to his fancy. 

People of gentle and sentimental dispositions pict- 
ured her as a poetical young girl, sweet, ecstatic as a 
Christian martyr, all abnegation, and love. 

Those who rather leaned towards Eadicalism, pict- 
ured her as a Nemesis of modern days, with a revolver in 



VERA ZASSULIC. 107 

one hand, the red flag in the other, and emphatic ex- 
pressions in her mouth ; terrible and haughty — the 
Eevolution personified. 

Both were profoundly mistaken. 

Zassulic has nothing about her of the heroine of a 
pseudo-Eadical tragedy, nor of the ethereal and ecstatic 
young girl. 

She is a strong, robust woman, and, although of mid- 
dle height, seems at first sight to be tall. Slie is not 
beautiful. Her eyes are very fine, large, well-shaped, 
with long lashes, and of grey colour, which become dark 
when she is excited. Ordinarily thoughtful and some- 
what sad, these eyes shine forth brilliantly when she is 
enthusiastic, which not unfrequently happens, or 
sparkle when she jests, which happens yery often. The 
slightest change of mind is reflected in the expressive 
eyes. The rest of her face is very commonplace. Her 
nose somewhat long, thin lips, large head, adorned with 
almost black hair. 

She is very negligent with regard to her appearance. 
She gives no thought to it whatever. She has not the 
slightest trace of the desire which almost every woman 
has, of displaying her beauty. She is too abstracted, 
too deeply immersed in her thoughts, to continuously 
give heed to things which interest her so little. 

There is one thing, however, which corresponds even 
less than her exterior with the idea of an ethereal young 
girl ; it is her voice. At first she speaks like most 
people. But this preliminary state continues a very 



108 REVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

short time. No sooner do her words become animated, 
than she raises her yoice, and speaks as loud as though 
she were addressing some one half deaf, or at least a 
hundred yards distant. Notwithstanding every effort, 
she cannot break herself of this habit. She is so ab- 
stracted, that she immediately forgets the banter of her 
friends, and her own determination to speak like the 
rest of the world in order to avoid observation. In the 
street, directly some interesting subject is touched upon, 
she immediately begins to exclaim, accompanying her 
words with her favourite and invariable gesture, cleav- 
ing the air energetically with her right hand, as though 
with a sword. 

Under this aspect, so simple, rough, and unpoetical, 
she conceals, however, a mind full of the highest 
poetry, profound and powerful, full of indignation and 
love. 

She is extremely reserved, although at first she seems 
quite the contrary, for she speaks very willingly, and 
talks about everything. She admits very few into her 
intimacy. I do not speak of that superficial intimacy 
which is simply the result of esteem and reciprocal con- 
fidence, and among us is the rule, but of that other in- 
timacy which consists in the exchange of the most 
secret thoughts. 

She is incapable of the spontaneous friendship of 
young and inexperienced minds. She proceeds cau- 
tiously, never advancing to supply with imagination the 



VERA ZASSULIC. 109 

deficiencies of positive observation. She has but few 
friends, almost all belonging to her former connections ; 
but in them is her world, separated from every one else 
by a barrier almost insurmountable. 

She lives much within herself. She is very subject 
to the special malady of the Eussians, that of probing 
her own mind, sounding its depths, pitilessly dissecting 
it, searching for defects, often imaginary, and always 
exaggerated. 

Hence those gloomy moods which from time to time 
assail her, like King Saul, and subjugate her for days 
and days, nothing being able to drive them away. At 
these times she becomes abstracted, shuns all society, 
and for hours together paces her room completely buried 
in thought, or flies from the house to seek relief where 
alone she can find it, in Nature, eternal, impassible, and 
imposing, which she loves and interprets with the pro- 
found feeling of a truly poetical mind. All night long, 
often until sunrise, she wanders alone among the wild 
mountains of Switzerland, or rambles on the banks of 
its immense lakes. 

She has that sublime craving, the source of great 
deeds, which in her is the result of an extreme idealism, 
the basis of her character. Her devotion to the cause 
of Socialism, which she espoused while a mere girl, as- 
sumed the shape in her mind of fixed ideas upon her 
own duties, so elevated that no human force could satisfy 
them. Everything seems small to her. One of her 



110 EEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

friends, X., the painter of whom I spoke just now, who 
had known Zassulic for ten 3'ears, and was a very intel- 
ligent and cleyer woman, seeing her only a few weeks 
after her acquittal, a prey to these gloomy humours, 
used to say : 

' Vera would like to shoot Trepoffs every day, or at 
least once a week. And, as this cannot be done, she 
frets.' 

Thereupon X. tried to prove to Zassulic that we 
cannot sacrifice ourselves every Sunday as our Lord is 
sacrificed ; that we must be contented, and do as 
others do. 

Vera did so, but she was not cured. Her feelings 
had nothing in common with those of the ambitious 
who want to soar above others. 'Not only before, but 
even after her name had become so celebrated, that is, 
during her last journey in Eussia, she undertook the 
most humble and most ordinary posts ; that of composi- 
tor in a printing office, of landlady, of housemaid, &c. 

She filled all these with unexceptionable care and 
diligence ; but this did not bring peace to her heart. 
So it was. 

I remember that one day, in relating to me how she 
felt when she received from the President of the Court 
the announcement of her acquittal, she said that it was 
not joy she experienced, but extreme astonishment, im- 
mediately followed by a feeling of sadness. 

^ I could not explain this feeling then,' she added, 
^ but I have understood it since. Had I been convicted. 



VEEA ZASSULIC. Ill 

I should liave been prevented by main force from doing 
anything, and should have been tranquil, and the thought 
of having done all I was able to do for the cause would 
have been a consolation to me.' This little remark, 
which has remained as though engraven upon my 
memory, illustrates her character better than pages of 
comments. 

A modesty, unique, unequalled, and incomparable, is 
only another form of this extreme idealism. It may be 
called the sign of a lofty mind to which heroism is 
natural and logical, and appears, therefore, in a form so 
divinely simple. 

In the midst of universal enthusiasm and true ado- 
ration, Zassulic preserved all the simplicity of manner, 
all the purity of mind, which distinguished her before 
her name became surrounded by the aureole of an im- 
mortal glory. That glory, which would have turned 
the head of the strongest Stoic, left her so phlegmatic 
and indifferent, that the fact would be absolutelv in- 
credible, were it not attested by all who have approached 
her, if only for a moment. 

This fact, unique perhaps in the history of the hu- 
man heart, of itself suffices to show the depth of her 
character, which is entirely self-sustained, and neither 
needs nor is able to derive any inspiration or impulse 
from external sources. 

Having accomplished her great deed from profound 
moral conviction, without the least shadow of ambition. 



112 BEVOLUTIONAKY PROFILES. 

Zassulic held completely aloof from every manifestation 
of the sentiments which that deed aroused in others. 
This is why she has always obstinately avoided showing 
herself in public. 

This reserve is no mere girlish restraint. It is a 
noble moral modesty, which forbids her to receive the 
homage of admiration for what, in the supreme eleva- 
tion of her ideal conceptions, she refuses to consider as 
an act of heroism. Thus this same Vera, who is so fond 
of society, who is fond of talking, who never fails to enter 
into the most ardent discussion with anyone who appears 
to her to be in the wrong ; this Vera no sooner enters 
any assembly whatever, where she knows she is being re- 
garded as Vera Zassulic, than she immediately under- 
goes a change. She becomes timid and bashful as a girl 
who has just left school. Even her voice, instead of 
deafening the ear, undergoes a marvellous transforma- 
tion ; it becomes sweet, delicate, and gentle, in fact an 
^ angelic ' voice, as her friends jestingly say. 

But that voice of hers is very rarely heard, for in 
public gatherings Vera ordinarily remains as silent as 
the grave. She must have a question much at heart, to 
rise and say a few words about it. 

To appreciate her originality of mind and her charm- 
ing conversation, she must be seen at home, among 
friends. There alone does she give full scope to her 
vivacious and playful spirit. Her conversation is 
original, exuberant, diversified, combining racy humour 



VEBA ZASSULIC. 113 

with a certain youthful candour. Some of her remarks 
are true gems, not like those seen in the windows of the 
Jewellers, hut like those which prolific Nature sponta- 
neously scatters in her lap. 

The characteristic feature of her mind is originality. 
Endowed with a force of reasoning of the highest order, 
Zassulic has cultiyated it by earnest and diversified 
studies during the long years of her exile in yarious 
towns in Russia. She has the faculty, which is so rare, 
of always thinkiog for herself, both in great things and 
in small. She is incapable by nature of following the 
beaten tracks, simply because they are the tracks of 
many. She verifies, she criticises everything, accepting 
nothing without a serious and minute examination. She 
thus gives her own impress even to the tritest things, 
which ordinarily are admitted and repeated by every- 
body without a thought, and this imparts to her argu- 
ments and to her ideas a charming freshness and vivacity. 

This originality and independence of thought, united 
with her general moral character, produce another 
peculiarity, perhaps the most estimable of this very fine 
type. I speak of that almost infallible moral instinct 
which is peculiar to her, of that faculty of discernment 
in the most perplexing and subtle questions, of good 
and evil, of the permitted and the forbidden, which she 
possesses, without being able, sometimes, to give a posi- 
tive reason for her opinion. This instinct she admira- 
bly evinced in her conduct before the court on the day 
of her memorable trial, to which, in great part, its un- 



114 REYOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

expected result is to be attributed, and in many internal 
questions. 

Her advice and opinions, even when she does not 
state her reasons, are always worthy of the highest con- 
sideration, because they are very rarely wrong. 

Thus Zassulic has everything to make her what might 
be called the conscience of a Circle, of an organisation, 
of a party ; but great as is her moral influence, Zassulic 
cannot be considered as a model of political influence. 
She is too much concentrated in herself to influence 
others. She does not give advice, unless she is expressly 
asked to give it. She does not on her own initiative 
interfere with the aflairs of others, in order to have theni 
arranged in her own manner, as an organiser or an 
agitator endeavours to do. She does her duty as her 
conscience prescribes, without endeavouring to lead 
others by her example. 

Her very idealism, so noble and so prolific, which 
makes her always eager for great deeds, renders her 
incapable of devoting herself with all her heart to the 
mean and petty details of daily labour. 

She is a woman for great decisions and for great 
occasions. 

Another woman presents to us the example of an 
indefatigable and powerful combatant, whose imposing 
form I will now endeavour, full of fear and doubt of 
my capacity, to delineate in the following chapter. 



115 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA, 

She was beautiful. It was not the beauty which dazzles 
at first sight, but that which fascinates the more, the 
more it is regarded. 

A blonde, with a pair of blue eyes, serious, and 
penetrating, under a broad and spacious forehead. 
A delicate little nose, a charming mouth, which 
showed, when she smiled, two rows of yery fine white 
teeth. 

It was, however, her countenance as a whole which 
was the attraction. There was something brisk, viva- 
cious, and at the same time, ingenuous in her rounded 
face. She was girlhood personified. Notwithstanding 
her twenty-six years, she seemed scarcely eighteen. 
A small, slender, and very graceful figure, and a voice 
as charming, silvery, and sympathetic as could be, 
heightened this illusion. It became almost a certainty, 
when she began to laugh, which very often happened. 
She had the ready laugh of a girl, and laughed with so 
much heartiness, and so unaffectedly, that she really 
seemed a young lass of sixteen. 

She gave little thought to her appearance. She 
dressed in the most modest manner, and perhaps did 
not even know what dress or ornament was becoming 



116 EEYOLUnONAEY PKOTTLES. 

or unbecoming. But she had a passion for neatness, 
and in this Avas as punctilious as a Swiss girl. 

She was very fond of children, and was an excellent 
schoolmistress. There was, however, another office 
that she filled even better ; that of nurse. When 
any of her friends fell ill, Sophia was the first to offer 
herself for this difficult duty, and she performed that 
duty with such gentleness, cheerfulness, and patience, 
that she won the hearts of her patients, for all time. 

Yet this woman, with such an innocent appearance, 
and with such a sweet and affectionate disposition, 
was one of the most dreaded members of the Terrorist 
party 

It was she who had the direction of the attemjot of 
March 13 ; it was she who, with a pencil, drew out 
upon an old enrelope the plan of the locality, who 
assigned to the conspirators their respective posts, and 
who, upon the fatal morning, remained upon the field 
of battle, receiving from her sentinels news, of the 
Emperor's movements, and informing the conspira- 
tors, by means of a handkerchief, where they were to 
proceed. 

What Titanic force was concealed under this serene 
appearance ? What qualities did this extraordinary 
woman possess ? 

She united in herself the three forces which of 
themselves constitute power of the highest order ; a 
profound and vast capacity, an enthusiastic and ardent 
disposition, and, above all, an iron will. 



SOPHIA PEEOVSKAIA. 117 

Sophia PeroYskaia belonged, like Krapotkine, to tlie 
highest aristocracy of Russia. The !Perovski are the 
younger branch of the family of the famous RasumoYsky, 
the morganatic husband of the Empress Elizabeth, 
daughter of Peter the Great, who occupied the throne 
of Russia in the middle of the last century (1741-1762). 
Her grandfather was Minister of Public Instruction ; 
her father was GoYernor-General of St. Petersburg ; 
her paternal uncle, the celebrated Count PeroYsky, 
conquered for the Emperor Nicholas a considerable part 
of Central Asia. 

Such was the family to which this woman belonged 
who gaYe such a tremendous blow to Czarism. 

Sophia was born in the year 1854. Her youth was 
sorrowful. She had a despotic father, and an adored 
mother, always outraged and humiliated. It was in 
her home that the germs were dcYeloped in her, of that 
hatred of oppression, and that generous Ioyc of the 
weak and oppressed, which she preserved throughout 
her whole life. 

The story of her early days is that of all the young 
in Russia, and, at the same time, of the rcYolutionary 
party. To relate it would be to present in a concrete 
form, what I have narrated in an abstract form in my, 
preface. For want of space I can only, however, indi- 
cate its chief features. 

Sophia PeroYskaia commenced, like all the women 
of her generation, with the simple desire for instruc- 
tion. When she had entered her fifteenth year, the 



118 EEVOLUnONAEY PKOFILES. 

moYement for the emancii^ation of woman was flourish- 
ing, and had even impressed her eldest sister. Sophia 
also wished to study, but as her father forbade her, she, 
like so many others, ran away from home. 

Concealed in the house of some friends, she sent 
a messenger to parley with her father, who, after having 
raged in yain for some weeks, endeavouring to find liis 
daughter by means of the police, ended by coming to 
terms, and consenting to provide Sophia with a pass- 
port. Her mother secretly sent her a small sum. 
Sophia was free, and began to study eagerly. 

What, however, did the Russian literature of that 
period impart to her ? A bitter criticism of our entire 
Social order, indicating Socialism as the definite object 
and the sole remedy. Her masters were Cerniscevsky 
and Dobrolinbov — the masters, that is, of the whole 
modern generation. With such masters eagerness to 
acquire knowledge quickly changed in her into eager- 
ness to work according to the ideas derived from what 
she had read. The same tendency arises spontaneously 
in many other women who are in the same position. 
Community of ideas and aspirations developes among 
them a feeling of profound friendship, and seeing them- 
selves in numbers inspires them with the desire and the 
hope of doing something. 

In this manner we have a secret society in embryo ; 
for in Russia everything that is done for the welfare of 
the country, and not for that of the Emperor, has to 
be done in secret. Sophia Perovskaia became intimate 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA. 119 

with the unfortunate family of the Korniloff sisters^ the 
nucleus from which was developed two years afterwards, 
the Circle of the Oiaikovzi, which I have several times 
mentioned. Perovskaia, together with some young 
students, among whom was Nicholas Ciaikovsky, who 
gave his name to the future organisation, was one oi 
the first members of this important Circle, which at 
first was more like a family gathering than a political 
society. 

The Circle, which at first had no other object than 
that of propagandism among the young, was not a large 
one. The members were always admitted by unanimity. 
There were no rules, for there was no need of any. All 
the decisions were always taken by unanimity, and this 
not very practical regulation never led to any un- 
pleasant consequences or inconvenience, as the recip- 
rocal affection and esteem among the members of the 
Circle were such that what the genius of Jean Jacques 
pictured as the ideal of human intercourse was at- 
tained ; the minority yielded to the majority, not from 
necessity or compulsion, but spontaneously from inward 
conviction that it must be right. 

The relations between the members of the Circle 
were the most fraternal that can be imagined. Sin- 
cerity and thorough frankness were the general rule. 
All were acquainted with each other, even more so, per- 
haps, than the members of the same family, and no one 
wished to conceal from the others even the least impor- 
tant act of his life. Thus every little weakness, every 



120 KEYOLUTIONAEY PBOFTLES. 

lack of devotion to the cause, every trace of egotism, 
was pointed out, underlined, sometimes reciprocally re- 
proved, not as would be the case by a pedantic mentor, 
but with affection and regret, as between brother and 
brother. 

These ideal relations, impossible in a Circle compris- 
ing a large number of persons united only by the iden- 
tity of the object they have in view, entirely disappeared 
when the political activity of this Circle was enlarged. 
But they were calculated to influence the moral devel- 
opment of the individual, and to form those noble dis- 
positions and those steadfast hearts which were seen in 
Cuprianoff, Ceruscin, Alexander Kornilova, Serdinkoff, 
and so many more, who in any other country would 
have been the honour and glory of the nation. With 
us, where are they ? Dead ; in prison ; fallen by their 
own hands ; entombed in the mines of Siberia, or 
crushed under the immense grief of having lost all — 
everything which they held most dear in life. 

It was among these surroundings, austere and affec- 
tionate, impressed with a rigorism almost monastic, and 
glowing with enthusiasm and devotion, that Sophia Pe- 
rovskaia passed the first three or four years of her 
youth, when the pure and delicate mind receives so 
readily every good impression ; when the heart beats so 
strongly for everything great and generous ; it was among 
these surroundings that her character was formed. 

Perovskaia was one of the most influential and 
esteemed members of the Circle, for her stoical severity 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA. 121 

towards herself, her indefatigable energy, and, aboye all, 
for her powerful capacity. Her clear and acute mind 
had that philosophical quality, so rare among women, 
not only of perfectly understanding a question, but of 
always seizing it in its philosophical connection with all 
the questions dependent on it or arising out of it. 
Hence arose a firmness of conviction which could not be 
shaken, either by sophisms or by the transient impres- 
sions of the moment, and an extraordinary ability in 
every kind of discussion — theoretical and practical. 
She was an admirable ^debater,' if I may use the 
word. Always regarding a subject from every side, she 
had a great advantage over her opponents, as ordinarily 
subjects are regarded by most people from one side 
alone, indicated by their dispositions or personal in- 
clinations. Sophia Perovskaia, although of the most 
ardent temperament, could elevate herself by the force 
of her intellect above the promptings of feeling, and 
saw things with eyes which were not confused by the 
halo of her own enthusiasm. She never exaggerated 
anything, and did not attribute to her activity and that 
of her friends greater importance than they possessed. 
She was always endeavouring, therefore, to enlarge it 
by finding fresh channels and means of activity, and 
consequently became even an initiator of fresh under- 
takings. Thus, the transfer of the propagandism among 
the young, to one among the working men of the city, 
effected by the Circle of the Ciailcovzi in the years 
1871 and 1872, Avas in great part due to the initia- 



122 BEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

tive of Sophia PeroYskaia. When this change was accom- 
plished, she was among the first to urge that from the 
towns it should pass to the country, clearly seeing that 
in Eussia if a party is to have a future it must put itself 
in communication with the mass of the rural popula- 
tion. Afterwards, when she belonged to the Terrorist 
organisation, she made every eifect to enlarge the ac- 
tivity of her party, which seemed to her too exclusive. 

This perpetual craving, however, arose in her from 
the great reasoning powers with which she was endowed, 
and not from romantic feeling, which generally springs 
from a too ardent imagination. Of such romantic feel- 
ing, which sometimes impels to great undertakings, but 
ordinarily causes life to be wasted in idle dreams, Sophia 
Perovskaia had not the slightest trace. She was too 
positive and clear-sighted to live upon chimeras. She 
was too energetic to remain idle. She took life as it is, 
endeavouring to do the utmost that could be done, at a 
given moment. Inertia to her was the greatest of tor- 
ments. 

For four years, however, she was compelled to 

endure it. 

II. 

On November 25, 1873, Perovskaia was arrested, 
together with some working men among whom she was 
carrying on the agitation in the Alexander Nevsky dis- 
trict. She was thrown into prison, but, in the absence 
of proofs against her, after a year's detention, was pro- 
visionally released, on the bail of her father, and had to 



SOPHIA PEEOVSKAIA. 123 

go into tlae Crimea, where her family possessed an es- 
tate. Tor three years Sophia remained there, without 
being able to do anything, as she was nnder strict sur- 
veillance, and without being able to escape, because she 
would have thereby compromised all those who had 
been provisionally released, instead of waiting their trial 
in prison. At last, in the year 1877, came that trial 
' of the 193 ' in which almost all the members of the so- 
ciety of the Ciaihovzi were implicated as well as Sophia 
Perovskaia. 

Here it may not be out of place to notice a special 
incident in connection with her first appearance in 
public, which affords an illustration of her character. 

The accused in this trial not wishing to be mere 
playthings in the hands of the Government, which fixed 
the sentences before the proceedings commenced, re- 
solved to make a solemn demonstration. But of what 
nature this demonstration should be was not settled 
before the final day. 

Sophia Perovskaia being out on bail, went to the 
trial without knowing the designs of her friends, who 
were in prison, and was purposely brought before the 
court first, as it was thought she would be taken un- 
awares, and that the influence of her example might be 
turned to account. This hope, however, was completely 
frustrated. Sophia, seeing herself quite alone, declared 
directly her first surprise was over, that she would take- 
no part whatever in the trial, as she did not see those 
whose ideas she shared, and whose fate she wished to share. 



124: EEYOLUnONAEY PKOFILES. 

This was precisely what had been resolved upon at 
the same moment, in the cells of the prison. Sophia 
was acquitted, not released, however, as might have been 
expected, but consigned to the gendarmes, in accordance 
with a mere police order, to be interned in one of the 
northern provinces. This is how all political offenders 
in Russia who are acquitted by the tribunals are treated. 

Henceforth, however, no moral obligation any longer 
weighed upon her. She resolved, therefore, to escape, 
and profiting by the first occasion which offered, she did 
escape, without being aided by anyone, without even 
apprising her friends. Before anyone, indeed, had heard 
of it, she returned to St. Petersburg, smiling and cheer- 
ful, as if nothing had happened, and related the story 
of her flight, so simple, innocent, and almost charm- 
ing, that, among the terrible adventures of her life, it 
is like a rhododendron blossoming among the wild 
precipices of the Swiss Diablerets. 

In 1878 she again took an active part in the riiove- 
ment. But when, after an absence of four years, she 
returned to the field of battle, everything was changed 
there — men, tendencies, means. 

The Terrorism had made its first appearance. 

She supported this movement, as the only one to 
which, owing to the conditions created by the G-overn- 
ment, recourse could be had. It was, indeed, in this 
tremendous struggle that she displayed her eminent 
qualities in all their splendour. 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA. 125 

She yerj soon acquired in the Terrorist organisation 
the same influence, and the same esteem, she had had 
in the Circle to which she previously belonged. 

She was of a yoracious energy. Indeed, she could 
do alone the work of many. She was really indefatig- 
able. She carried on the agitation among the young, 
and was one of the most successful in it ; for, to the art 
of convincing, she united that much more difficult, of 
inspiring enthusiasm and the sentiment of the highest 
duty, because she was full of it herself. Directly the 
opportunity offered, she carried on the agitation among 
the working men, who loved her for her simplicity and 
earnestness, which always please the people; and she 
was one of the founders of the working-men's Terrorist 
Society, called rabociaia drugina, to which Timothy 
Micailoff and Eissakoff belonged. She was an organiser 
of the highest order. With her keen and penetrating 
mind, she could grasp the minutest details, upon which, 
often depends the success or failure of the most impor- 
tant undertakings. She displayed great ability in the 
preparatory labors that require so much foresight and 
self-command, as a word let slip inopportunely may 
ruin everything. Not that it would be repeated to the 
police, for the secluded life led by the Nihilists renders 
such a thing almost impossible ; but by those almost in- 
evitable indiscretions, as, for instance, between husband 
and wife, or friend and friend, by which it sometimes 
happens that a secret, which has leaked out from the 
narrow circle of the organisation through the thought- 



126 KEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

lessness of some member, in a moment spreads all over 
the city, and is in every niouth. As for Sophia Perov- 
skaia, she carried her reserve to such an extent, that she 
could live for months together with her most intimate 
personal friend without that friend knowing anything 
whatever of what she was doing. 

From living so long in the revolutionary world, 
Perovskaia acquired a great capacity for divining in 
others the qualities which render them adapted for one 
kind of duty rather than another, and could control 
men as few can control them. Not that she employed 
subterfuges ; she had no need of them. The authority 
she exercised was due to herself alone, to her firmness 
of character, to her supremely persuasive language, and 
still more, perhaps, to the moral elevation and bound- 
less devotion which breathed forth from her whole 
being. 

The force of her will was as powerful as that of her 
intellect. The terrible toil of perpetual conspiracy 
under the conditions existing in Eussia ; that toil 
which exhausts and consumes the most robust tempera- 
ments, like an infernal fire ; for the implacable god of 
the Revolution claims as a holocaust not merely the life 
and the blood of its followers — would that it were so — 
but the very marrow of their bones and brain, their very 
inmost soul ; or otherwise rejects them, discards them, 
disdainfully, pitilessly ; this terrible toil, I say, could 
not shake the will of Sophia Perovskaia. 

'For eleven years she remained in the ranks, sharing 



SOPHIA PEEOVSKAIA. 127 

in immense losses and reverses, and yet ever impelled to 
fresh attacks. She knew how to preserve intact the 
sacred spark. She did not wrap herself up in the 
gloomy and mournful mantle of rigid 'duty.' Not- 
withstanding her stoicism and apparent coldness, she re- 
mained, essentially, an inspired priestess ; for under her 
cuirass of polished steel, a woman's heart was always 
heating. Women, it must be confessed, are much more 
richly endowed with this divine flame than men. This 
is why the almost religious fervour of the Eussian Revo- 
lutionary movement must in great part be attributed to 
them ; and while they take part in it, it will be invin- 
cible. 

Sophia Perovskaia was not merely an organiser ; she 
went to the front in person, and coveted the most 
dangerous posts. It was that, perhaps, which gave her 
this irresistible fascination. When fixing upon anyone 
her scrutinising regard, which seemed to penetrate into 
the very depths of the mind, she said, with her earnest 
look, 'Let us go.' Who could reply to her, 'Not I'? 
She went willingly, ' happy,' as she used to say. 

She took part in almost all the Terrorist enterprises, 
commencing with the attempt to liberate Voinaralsky 
in 1878, and sometimes bore the heaviest burden of 
them, as in the Hartmann attempt, in which, as the 
mistress of the house, she had to face dangers, all the 
greater because unforeseen, and in which, by her pres- 
ence of mind and self-command, she several times sue- 



128 BEVOLUTIONARY PROFILES. 

ceeded in ayerting the imminent peril which hung over 
the entire undertaking. 

As to her resolution and coolness in action, no words 
sufficiently strong could perhaps be found to express 
them. It will suffice to say that, in the Hartmann 
attempt, the six or eight men engaged in it, who cer- 
tainly were not without importance, specially entrusted 
Sophia PeroYskaia with the duty of firing the deposit 
of nitro-glycerine in the interior of the house, so as to 
blow into the air everything and eveiybody, in case the 
police came to arrest them. It was she, also, who was 
entrusted with the very delicate duty of watching for 
the arrival of the Imperial train, in order to give the 
signal for the explosion at the exact moment, and, as is 
well known, it was not her fault that the attempt 
failed. 

I will not speak of the management of what took 
place on March 13, for it would be repeating what every- 
body knows. The Imperial Procurator, anxious to show 
how little power the Executive Committee possessed, 
said the best proof of this was that the direction of a 
matter of so much importance was entrusted to the 
feeble hands of a woman. The Committee evidently 
knew better, and Sophia Perovskaia clearly proved it. 

She was arrested a week after March 13, as she would 
not on any account quit the capital. She appeared be- 
fore the court, tranquil and serious, without the slightest 
trace of parade or ostentation, endeavouring neither to 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA. 129 

justify herself, nor to glorify herself ; simple and modest 
as she had lived. Eyen her enemies were moved. In 
a very brief address she simply asked that she might not 
be separated, as a woman, from her companions, but 
might share their fate. This request was granted. 

Six weary days the execution was postponed, although 
the legal term for appealing and petitioning is fixed at 
only three. 

What was the cause of this incomprehensible delay ? 
What was being done to the condemned all this time ? 

No one knows. 

The most sinister rumours soon circulated through- 
out the capital. It was declared that the condemned, in 
accordance with the Asiatically Jesuitical advice of Loris 
Melikoff, were subjected to torture to extract revelations 
from them ; not lefore but after the sentence, for then 
no one would hear their voices again. 

Were these idle rumours, or indiscreet revelations ? 

No one knows. 

Having no positive testimony we will not bring such 
an accusation, even against our enemies. There is one 
indisputable fact, however, which contributed to give 
greater credence to these persistent rumours ; the voices 
of the condemned were never heard again by anyone. 
The visits of relatives, which, by a pious custom, are 
allowed to all who are about to die, were obstinately 
forbidden, with what object, or for what reason, is not 
known. The Government was even not ashamed to have 
recourse -to unworthy subterfuges in order to avert re- 



130 BEVOLUTIONAKY PKOFILES. 

monstrance. Sophia Perovskaia's mother, who adored 
her daughter, hastened from the Crimea at the first 
announcement of the arrest. She saw Sophia for 
the last time, on the day of the verdict. During the 
fiye other days, under orte pretext or another, she was 
always sent away. At last she was told to come in the 
morning of April 15, ^nd that then she would see her 
daughter. ^ 

She went ; but at the moment when she approached 
the prison the door was thrown wide open, and she saw 
her daughter^ in truth — but upon the fatal cart. 

It was the mournful procession of the condemned to 
the place of execution. 

I will not narrate the horrible details of this execu- 
tion. — ' I have been present at a dozen executions in 
the East,' says the correspondent of the ^Kolnische 
Zeitung,' 'but I have never seen such a butchery 
{Schinderei).^ 

All the condemned died like heroes. 

'Kibalcic and Geliaboff were very calm, Timothy 
Micailoff was pale, but firm, Eissakoff was liver- 
coloured. Sophia Perovskaia displayed extraordinary 
moral strength. Her cheeks even preserved their rosy 
colour, while her face, always serious, without the 
slightest trace of parade, was full of true courage, and 
endless abnegation. Her look was calm and peaceful ; 
not the slightest sign of ostentation could be discerned 
in it.' 

So speaks, not a Nihilist, not even a Radical, but the 



SOPHIA PEROYSKAIA. 131 

correspondent of the ^Kolnische Zeitung' (of April 16, 
1881), who cannot be suspected of excessive sympathy 
with the Nihilists. 

At a quarter past nine Sophia Perovskaia was a 
corpse. 

The above had already gone tp press, when I received, 
from her friends, the copy of a letter from Sophia 
Perovskaia to her mother, written only a few days before 
the trial. The translation which follows will not, I 
think, be unacceptable to my readers. I am far indeed, 
however, from flattering myself that I have preserved 
the warm breath of tenderness and affection, the in- 
describable charm, which render it so touching in the 
Eussian language. 

Being under no delusion as to the sentence and fate 
which awaited her, Sophia endeavoured to gently prepare 
her mother for the terrible news, and to console her be- 
forehand as far as possible. 

'My dear, adored Mamma, — The thought of you 
oppresses and torments me always. My darling, I im- 
plore you to be calm, and not to grieve for me * for my 
fate does not afflict me in the least, and I shall meet it 
with complete tranquillity, for I have long expected it, 
and known that sooner or later it must come. And I 
assure you, dear mamma, that my fate is not such a 
very mournful one. I have lived as my convictions dic- 
tated, and it would have been impossible for me to have 
acted otherwise. I await my fate, therefore, with a 



132 EEVOLUTIONAEY PROFILES. 

tranquil conscience, whatever it may be. The only 
thing which oppresses me is the thought of your grief, 
oh, my adored mother ! It is that which rends mxy 
heart ; and what would I not give to be able to alleviate 
it ? My dear, dear mother, remember that you have 
still a large family, so many grown-up, and so many 
little ones, all of whom have need of you, have need of 
your great moral strength. The thought that I have 
been unable to raise myself to your moral height has 
always grieved me to the heart. AYhenever, however, I 
felt myself wavering, it was always the thought of you 
which sustained me. I will not speak to you of my 
devotion to you ; you know that from my infancy you 
were always the object of my deepest and fondest love. 
Anxiety for you was the greatest of my sufferings. I 
hope that you will be calm, that you will pardon me the 
grief I have caused you, and not blame me too much ; 
your reproof is the only one that would grieve my 
heart. 

* In fancy I kiss your hands again and again, and on 
my knees I implore you not to be angry with me. 

' Eemember me most affectionately to all my rela- 
tives. 

' And I have a little commission for you, my dear 
mamma. Buy me some cuffs and collars ; the collars 
rather narrow, and the cuffs with buttons, for studs are 
not allowed to be worn here. Before appearing at the 
trial, I must mend my dress a little, for it has become 
much worn here. Good-bye till we meet again, my dear 



SOPHIA PEROVSKAIA. 133 

mother. Once more, I implore you not to grieve, and 
not to afflict yourself for me. My fate is not such a 
sad one after all, and you must not grieve about it. 

* 

' Your own Sophia. 

* March 33 {April 3) 1881.' 



REVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 



137 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT, 
I. 

A BAND OF HERMITS. 

XJpoK the outskirts of the old capital of Eussia, just 
where that half Asiatic city, immense as the antique 
Babylon or Nineveh, is at last lost in the distance, and 
its houses, becoming fewer, are scattered among the 
market gardens and fields, and the immense uncultivated 
plains which surround it on all sides, as the sea sur- 
rounds an islet ; on these outskirts is a little cottage, 
one story high, old, grimy with age, and half in ruins. 

Although in a capital, this poor dwelling is not out 
of harmony with the district. The other houses round 
about have the same mean and rough aspect ; and all 
this part of the immense city resembles a little village 
lost in the plains of Kussia, rather than a district of one 
of the largest capitals in Europe. In summer, grass 
grows in the streets, so high that a cavalry regiment 
might exercise there ; and in the rainy autumn, these 
streets are full of puddles and miniature lakes, in which 
the ducks and geese swim about. 

There is no movement. From time to time a passer- 



138 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

bj is seen, and if he does not belong to the district the 
boys stare at him until he is out of sight. If by chance 
a carriage, or a hired vehicle, arrives in these parts, all 
the shutters, green, red, and blue, are hurriedly opened, 
and girls and women peep forth, curious to see such, an 
extraordinary sight. 

All the inhabitants of this tranquil district know each 
other, for they were born there, and have grown old 
there. They are simple, patriarchal people, who seem 
in no way to belong to modern civilisation. They live 
exactly as their fathers lived two or three centuries ago. 
Almost all belong to the old religious sects which were 
formed in the seventeenth century, when the Patriarch 
Nikon, a gifted but despotic and implacable man, wished 
to correct various orthographical errors in the old books. 
Eefusing to recognise the corrections of Mkon, which, 
he strove to impose by force upon the zealots of the 
ancient rite, these sects even rejected all the ordinances 
of the State which supported the ferocious Patriarch, 
especially after the reforms of Peter the Great, effected 
according to the example of the infidel ^ Germans.' 
They even rejected the European dress, which the 
reforming Czar wanted to impose upon them by 
violence. 

Cruelly persecuted for a couple of centuries, these 
sects spread nothwithstanding throughout all Eussia 
among the poorer classes, and now number at least ten 
millions of followers. Their principal centre is the old 
capital, abandoned by the Emperors, like the old re- 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT. 139 

ligion. The Preobragenskoie and Eogoscoe districts, 
which we are describing, received their names from the 
two cemeteries where so many of the martyrs of these 
sects are buried ; they are their real capitals, where their 
priests and bishops reside clandestinely, and where their 
oecumenical councils are held. 

It is true, the corruption of the age is beginning to 
inyade even these last retreats of the ancient faith. 
When on festival evenings the people go forth and sit, 
according to Eastern custom, outside their houses, chat- 
ting with their neighbours, it is no unusual thing to see 
some lively young man who works in one of the city 
manufactories playing the 'harmonica' instead of the 
ancient guitar, and wearing a jacket with bright but- 
tons, instead of the ancient straight coat, besides boots 
with heels — which things are German abominations. It 
is even related that some of them secretly smoke tobacco, 
which is a heinous offence, as it makes a man resemble 
not God, but the Devil in person, who in the lives of 
the saints is always represented with filthy smoke issuing 
from his mouth. 

The old folks mournfully shake their heads and say 
that the end of the world is at hand, as the ancient de- 
votion is dying out. 

The occupants of the house which we have above re- 
ferred to do not belong, however, to the original inhabi- 
tants of this patriarchal district. They have newly come 
to reside there. Notwithstanding this, they are not 
unfavourably regarded in the neighbourhood, for they are 



140 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

good, simple, God-fearing people. The family consists 
of husband and wife. They are expecting every moment 
the arrival of their old parents. 

Although the wife seems very young, she is an ex- 
cellent housewife ; the husband, an artisan of Saratoff, 
is about thirty-two or thirty- three, but is very grave for 
his age. Evidently he, also, is a member of the sect. 
He does not smoke tobacco, he does not shave — which is 
also considered a very grave transgression, as it takes 
from a man the likeness of God, in whose image, as is 
well known, he was created. True, the new-comer wears 
boots with heels, and a jacket. But this perhaps is 
' from fear of the Jews,^ or perhaps because he belongs 
to another sect, which allows these things, and then no 
censure attaches to him, for the various sects display 
perfect tolerance towards each other. 

There was an important indication which assisted in 
changing this friendly suspicion into a certainty. 

The family was two in number. There could be no 
doubt, however, that the house was occupied by several 
persons ; provisions to such an extent were purchased, 
that, however hearty their appetites, they could not con- 
sume them alone. Then, too, some of the old folks 
during their sleepless nights had heard the creaking of 
the gate, and even the sound of vehicles, evidently 
bringing people from a distance. ' "Who could they be 
but brethren ?' the old folks said to each other in confi- 
dence. Certainly no one would have gone and breathed 
a word of this to their common enemy the policeman, 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT. 141 

standing there at the corner of the street. No one would 
have dreamed of it. 

These pious folks were not mistaken. The house 
was in fact occupied by an entire band of hermits — 
miners by trade. The vehicles which came by night 
brought dynamite, and the necessary instruments for its 
explosion. 

It was the Moscow mine. 

II. 

THE MIIS'E. 

The excavation of the Moscow mine, by which the 
Imperial train was to be blown up, commenced about 
the middle of September, and finished two months 
afterwards, was part of the vast plan of a triple attempt 
of the same kind, which was to be carried out during 
the journey of the Emperor from the Crimea to St. 
Petersburg, without mentioning three others which be- 
longed to about the same time. 

The mines under the railway line were placed at 
three different points ; near Moscow, near Alexan- 
drovsk, and near Odessa. 

It was believed, therefore, that the blow could not 
possibly fail. 

Owing, however, to a combination of various cir- 
cumstances, this was precisely what happened. The 
preparations upon the Odessa railway, together with 
those upon the Italianskaia, recently discovered, for 



142 BEVOLUTIONAEY PEOFILES. 

blowing up the Imperial carriage while passing through, 
the streets of the city, had to be abandoned, owing to 
a change in the itinerary of the Emperor. In that of 
AlexandroYsk, organised by Geliaboff and Okladsky, 
the mine, owing to some defect of the capsule, did not 
explode, although the battery was closed at the right 
moment, and thus the Imperial train passed uninjured, 
oyer a precipice, to the bottom of which it would infal- 
libly have rolled at the slightest shock. The two pre- 
vious attempts; failed in tlie same manner ; that of 
blowing up the stone bridge in St. Petersburg organised 
by the same Geliaboff, and Tetiorka, as the latter did 
not keep his appointment ; and that of blowing up the 
Imperial steamer near Nicolaieff, organised by Logo- 
denko, the sole attempt discovered by the police. By 
the merest chance they paid a domiciliary visit to the 
very apartment in which the electric wires were placed. 

In Moscow alone, the Terrorists were fortunate 
enough to make at least an attempt. Yet it was pre- 
cisely there that the undertaking seemed most difficult, 
and the probabilities of success much less, owing espe- 
cially to the Cyclopean labor, which required many men, 
whom it was difficult to keep concealed, and to the vi- 
cinity of the capital, where the surveillance was so strict. 

I will not relate what is already known from the 
newspapers of that date. I simply propose to draw 
attention to two circumstances, as they were related to 
me by a friend who took part in the undertaking, and 
for whose veracity I can unhesitatingly answer. 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT. 143 

The first relates to the organisation, the second to 
the execution of the project. Both are very character- 
istic, not only of this attempt, but of all the under- 
takings of the Terrorists ; I mean the extreme sim- 
plicity, which is in such flagrant contradiction with all 
the preconceiyed ideas upon Nihilism, and the means 
and methods of execution, attributed to it. 

It is generally believed that the Nihilists have enor- 
mous means at their disposition. This is a great error, 
and the Moscow attempt is the best proof of it. The 
expenses of the struggle are so immense, that the Nihil- 
ists are always hunting about for a few roubles. They 
are thus compelled to do everything in the most econ- 
omical manner, often at the risk of their lives. 

As a matter of fact, the Egyptian labours of the 
Moscow mine, and of the two other railway attempts 
organised for the same month of November, cost in all 
the pitiful sum of from 3,000/. to 4,000?., including 
travelling expenses. The other undertakings, of less 
extent, cost still less. Thus the attempt to liberate one 
of the prisoners condemned at the trial *of the 193' 
while he was being taken from St. Petersburg to the 
central prison of Karkoff, was organised upon a large 
scale ; five horses, a vehicle, and a supply of arms had to 
be bought, and the expenses paid of a large body of sen- 
tinels, placed in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kursk, and 
Karkoff to watch every movement of the police. Yet 
this attempt, according to the detailed accounts sent in 
to the organisation by those who were entrusted with it. 



144 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

cost only 4,500 roubles, and some odd money, or about 
600Z. 

Spending so little, the Terrorists are often compelled 
to fill up, so to speak, with their own flesh and blood, 
the cracks in the edifice, caused by undue economy of 
wood. Thus, in the Moscow attempt, from want of 
money a loan had to be contracted, upon the mort- 
gage of the yery house in which the mine was being 
made. A survey had then to be made by an expert, 
which is always done in the presence of the police, 
and this when the mine was already almost finished. 
Upon the danger of such a survey I need not insist. 
The work itself was carried out at the least possible 
expense. • 

Thus, the instrument for boring was not obtained 
till towards the last, when, owing to their excessive toil, 
the miners were absolutely exhausted. At first the work 
was done by hand, and although, owing to the wet 
weather, the passage was always full of water, which 
dripped from the top and collected at the bottom, so 
that they had to work drenched in freezing water, stand- 
ing in it up to their knees, and even to lie down in the 
mud, the miners had no waterproof clothing, such as 
divers wear, which would have preserved them from so 
much suffering in this horrible Dantean hole. 

In order to keep the passage in a right direction, 
means and instruments were employed, which a sur- 
veyor would have scornfully rejected. Thus no astro- 
labe was bought, not even a compass with a quadrant. 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT. 145 

but a mere pocket compass, only used for drawing up 
military plans. 

By means of this compass, the cardinal points were 
found, with more or less precision, and to indicate them 
inside the passage, little pieces of iron were used attached 
by a wire along the beams. 

Notwithstanding all this, when the mine was ex- 
amined, after the explosion, by the engineers, they found 
that it was extremely well made. Diligence made up for 
the defects of the implements of labour, — and good 
spirits sustained strength. 

It would be a grave error to picture this terrible 
band invested with the traditional attributes of the 
theatrical conspirator. All the meetings of the Nihilists 
are distinguished by their simplicity, and by the com- 
plete absence of that parade and ostentation so thoroughly 
opposed to the Russian character, the tendency of which 
is towards the humorous. 

In graver matters in which life or lives have to be 
risked, or even undoubtedly lost, everything is settled 
among us in two words. There is no display of orator- 
ical art. There is no passionate harangue, for it would 
merely cause a smile, as being completely out of place. 
The public is not admitted to our discussions. Every- 
thing is done by people who thoroughly know each 
other, and who perfectly understand what there is to 
do. 

Why, therefore, make a display of what is under- 
stood of itself ? Earely, indeed, does some phrase or 



146 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

word vibrate, inyoluntarily, with a deeper tone, or some 
flash of enthusiasm shine forth in a glance. If some one 
not understanding our language had been present at a 
meeting of the Terrorists, in which the most terrible 
schemes Avere planned, he would have taken it for a 
gathering of peaceful folks, speaking calmly and simply 
upon some harmless matter. 

I say this for the guidance of the worthy novelists 
who have had the goodness to represent types of Nihil- 
ist life. All make them melodramatic heroes, who, 
among us, instead of exciting the enthusiasm attributed 
to them, would have produced precisely the opposite 
effect ; for they would undoubtedly have aroused 
suspicions of their firmness by too much eloquence. 
We have all heard of the dog whose bark is worse than 
his bite. 

The Moscow mine may serve as an excellent illus- 
tration of what I am saying. As to the danger which 
hung over all who were in the fatal house, it certainly 
could neither be exaggerated nor forgotten. Accord- 
ing to the Eussian laws, in any attempt against the 
life of the Emperor, all the accomplices, without any 
distinction of degree, including the non-informers, are 
punished with death. This death was hovering at 
every moment, night and day, over the heads of the 
miners, and from time to time they felt the cold flap- 
ping of its sombre wings, and knew that it was ready to 
seize them. 

Some days before the Emperor passed, the police 



THE MOSCOW ATTEMPT. 14:7 

went to this house on some frivolous pretext. The 
miners were immediately warned. The police saw 
only the legitimate occupants of the house, and every- 
thing was arranged in such a manner as to excite not 
the least suspicion. Yet the slightest embarrassment, 
the slightest trembling of the voice, might have caused 
mistrust, and led to a stricter search, by which every- 
thing would have been discovered. 

At other times it was to be feared that some sus- 
picions would arise in the minds of prying neighbours 
(as may be read in the report of the trial of the six- 
teen), suspicions which were so well averted by Sophia 
Perovskaia. 

To show that the miners were under no illusion as 
to the fate which awaited them, it will be sufficient to 
recall the fact of the bottle of nitro-glycerine placed 
inside the room. 

Notwithstanding all this, unflagging good spirits 
prevailed in the household throughout the whole 
period of the work. At dinner time, when all met, 
there was chatting and joking as though nothing were 
at stake, and it was then that Sophia Perovskaia, at the 
very moment when she had in her pocket a loaded 
revolver intended to blow up everything and every- 
body into the air, most frequently delighted the com- 
pany with her silvery laugh. One of the miners even 
composed some comic verses, in which was related in 
burlesque style the various vicissitudes and incidents of 
the mining work. 



us 



TWO ESCAPES. 



I. 



Oke evening in the middle of January, 1880 — I forget 
tlie exact day — some exiles met in Geneva to take 
a cup of tea at the house of one of their number, 
M. G. 

It was a somewhat numerous party, six or seven 
persons perhaps, and, what is much rarer in the gather- 
ings of the exiles, it was rather a lively one. Our charm- 
ing hostess was seated at the piano, which she played 
with much taste and feeling, and she sang to us several 
Ukrainian songs. We were all somewhat excited by 
the music. We joked and laughed. The principal 
subject of our conversation was the escape from Siberia 
of one of our friends, news of which had reached us 
that very day. . 

All the particulars of the escape then known having 
been related, and all the observations and conjec- 
tures with regard to it having been made, a moment 
of silence followed ; of that dead, insupportable silence, 
when the Russians say, ^A fool has been born ' or ' The 
angel of silence is hovering over us,' according to their 
respective tastes. 



TWO ESCAPES. 149 

Under tlie influence of this conyersation respecting 
the esca|)e of our friends, the idea came into my mind 
to propose to the company, which included Krapotkine 
and Bokanoyski, to relate to each other the particulars 
of their own escapes, as almost eyeryone had succeeded 
in escaping. 

It was owing to this proposal, which met with gen- 
eral approyal, that I am able to write this sketch. 

Krapotkine parried the proposal, saying that he had 
been compelled to relate the particulars of his escape 
oyer and oyer again, until he was quite sick cf the 
subject. He was obliged, howeyer, to yield to the im- 
portunity of the company. 

'The firm determination to escape at all hazards,' 
he began, 'neyer left me from the first day of my arrest. 
But if there is anything impossible in the world, it is to 
escape from the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. I 
drew up plans, or rather, indulged in wild fancies, as 
I could not but perceiye that they were only yain 
dreams.' 

After this prelude, Krapotkine related how he was 
transferred to the Nicholas Hospital, how he induced 
those in charge of him always to belieye him in extre- 
mis, &c. I will not repeat all this, for I haye already 
spoken of it in his biography. I pass at once to the 
main facts. 

' The doctor ordered me daily exercise, and about 
one o'clock I was taken into the large courtyard of the 



150 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

Hospital. A sentinel, musket in hand, was always by 
my side. 

^I began to take close note of evei'ytbing, so as to 
draw Tip my plans. 

^ The courtyard was large. The gate, ordinarily 
shut, was then open ; for at that period of the year (it 
was July) the Hospital was taking in its supplies of 
wood for the winter. As this, however, would last only 
a few weeks, no sentinel had been placed at the gate. 
It was a great advantage. 

' I walked up and down at the bottom of the court- 
yard, exactly opposite the gate. The sentinel was al- 
ways near, between me and the gate. As, however, I 
walked more slowly than a tortoise, which, as is well 
known, wearies a vigorous man more than he would be 
wearied by leaps and bounds, the soldier had recourse 
to the following stratagem : he followed a line parallel 
to mine, but five paces nearer the gate. He was thus 
able to make his walk ten paces longer than mine, for 
at each extremity of his line he was always at the same 
distance from the gate, as I was at the extremity of my 
line. 

' This calculation, which the sentinel evidently made 
with his eye, was absolutely correct theoretically. I, 
however, had thought, that if once we both began* to 
run, the soldier, by a natural instinct, would endeavour 
to seize me as quickly as possible, and would therefore 
rush upon me, instead of running directly to the gate 
to cut off my retreat. He would thus describe two 



TWO ESCAPES. 151 

sides of tlie triangle, of which I should describe the 
third alone/ Upon this point, thus, I had an advan- 
tage. I might hope to reach the gate before the senti- 
nel, running at the same speed. I hoped, however, to 
run faster, but was not certain of it, being much weak- 
ened by illness. 

*If a vehicle were waiting at the gate for me, so 
that I might easily jump into it, I said to myself I 
should have a good chance of escaping. 

* When I was about to send a letter to my friends 
containing the outlines of my plan, I received another 
from them on the same subject. I began a correspon- 
dence. I need not relate the various plans and projects 
proposed and abandoned ; there were so many. Several 
questions had to be settled ; whether my friends should 
enter the courtyard as they proposed, and engage in 
some way or other the attention of the sentinel ; whether 
the vehicle should await me at the gate, or at the 
corner of the hospital, where it would not be so much 
in sight ; whether one of our party should post himself 
there, or the driver should remain alone. 

'I proposed the most simple and natural plan, which 
was finally adopted. I^o one should enter the court- 
yard. The vehicle should await me at the gate, because 
I felt too weak to run as far as the corner. An inti- 
mate friend proposed to post himself there to assist me, 
if necessary, in getting in more quickly, and especially 

^ I preserve the mode of explanation characteristic of a mathe- 
matician, which impressed me when I heard it. 



152 REYOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

in dressing me directly afterwards, as I should be com- 
pelled to escape with scarcely anything on except my 
trousers and shirt. 

' All we had to cover us in the hospital was an 
invalid's dressing-gown. It was so large, so incon- 
venient, and so long, that in walking I was obliged to 
carry my train upon my arm. To run in such a garb 
was absolutely impossible. It must be thrown off at all 
hazards, before I could take to my heels. But this 
must be done with the rapidity of lightning, for a 
single moment lost might ruin all. For many days in 
succession I practised this performance in my cell. I 
found that, to do it with the utmost possible celerity, 
the operation must be divided into three elementary 
movements, like the musketry exercise of soldiers, — one, 
two, three. 

' The greatest difficulty remained ; the selection of 
the moment. This depended upon the condition of the 
streets through which we had to pass. A string of 
wood carts, a detachment of passing soldiers, a mounted 
Cossack, might upset the attempt, especially as the 
streets through which we had to pass were very narrow 
and winding. They must therefore be watched, and I 
must be informed when they were free from all obstacles. 
Eor this purpose sentinels had to be placed at four 
different points. The fifth sentinel, receiving informa- 
tion from the four others, had to give me the decisive 
signal at the proper moment. The signal was to 
be an air-ball, which would ascend at a given spot be- 



TWO ESCAPES. 153 

hind tlie high wall of the courtyard in which I took 
exercise. 

* I had also proposed to place a sixth sentinel at the 
corner of a lane a little beyond, because, according to 
my calculations, this ^ery narrow lane was so long, that 
a vehicle being in it at the moment of our departure 
■would infallibly haye stopped our progress. It could 
not reach the end while we were passing from the gate 
of the hospital to the entrance of this lane. As men 
were few, however, we did without this sixth sentinel. 

' On the day fixed I went to take my exercise, full 
of hope and excitement. I looked again and again 
towards that part of the wall where the red air-ball was 
to ascend. Nothing was to be seen. My time was 
drawing to an end ; still nothing. It ended, and with 
it my hopes. With the impressionable imagination of a 
prisoner, I gave way to the gloomiest conjectures. I felt 
convinced that everything had broken down. 

^ Nothing much, however, had happened. By a sin- 
gular chance, a red air-ball could not be found any- 
where in the Gostini Dvor, or in any of the toy-shops, 
though a whole morning had been spent in looking 
for one. Only white and blue balls could be had, 
which my friends would not take, and with good reason ; 
for no change whatever, however insignificant it may 
appear, is ever permitted in signals. They hurriedly 
purchased a red india-rubber ball in a gutta-percha shop, 
and filled it with gas of their own manufacture. But 

the ball turned out so badly, that at the proper moment 
7* 



154 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

when the sentinal let go the string, instead of rising 
high into the air it went up only a few yards and fell to 
the ground before reaching the top of the courtyard 
wall. The sentinel frenziedly endeavoured to throw it 
up with his hands, but this was even less successful. 

'To this fortuitous circumstance I owed many hours 
of torture, and, at the same time, my safety ; for at the 
very moment when the ball was sent up into the air, a 
long string of wood carts entered the lane of which I 
have spoken where no sentinel had been placed. They 
would infallibly have stopped our progress, and all 
would have been lost. 

'Another interval followed for the necessary corre- 
spondence in order to arrange the modifications, which 
were indispensable. Another sentinel was posted, 
naturally, at the entrance of the lane. But this re- 
quired a modification of the entire plan, as there were 
no means of combining the signals of all the five sen- 
tinels outside the wall of the courtyard so as to give me 
the decisive signal. Either additional sentinels would 
have to be introduced, for the mere transmission of the 
signals, or the decisive signal would have to be changed. 

' The latter expedient was chosen. 

' One of our party hired a room on the third storey 
directly opposite the hospital. From the window could 
be seen not only all the five sentinels, but the court- 
yard also, where I took exercise. The signal was to be 
given to me by means of a violin, which my friend was 
to play whenever all the signals were favourable, and 



TWO ESCAPES. 155 

the music was to cease when any of them became unfa- 
vourable. This mode also presented the great advantage 
of indicating to me repeatedly the favourable time for 
flight, leaving to me the selection of the proper mo- 
ment. 

The first day, when everything was ready and the 
vehicle already awaited me at the gate, it was I who 
caused my friends some cruel moments ; my illness in- 
creased, and I felt so weak that I did not dare to make 
the attempt. I did not even go down, therefore, into 
the courtyard, and .they thought that the suspicions of 
the police had been aroused, and that I was no longer 
to be allowed to take exercise. 

^ I recovered in two days and resolved to profit by 
the interval which my illness had given me. 

* I prepared everything ; the shoes, the dressing- 
gown, which required a little ripping-up in order to be 
thrown off more quickly — everything. 

'I went to take my exercise. No sooner had I 
entered the courtyard than I heard the violin. The 
music lasted for five minutes, but I did not care to 
profit by it immediately, for at first the surveillance 
instinctively is always somewhat greater. But lo ! the 
violin stopped. Two minutes afterwards some carts 
with wood entered the courtyard. The violin recom- 
menced. 

* This time I was determined to turn it to account. 
I looked at the sentinel ; he was walking along his 
usual line, some five paces distant, between me and the 



156 KEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

gate. I looked at his musket. It was loaded ; I knew 
it. Would lie fire or not ? Probably not, because I, 
being so near, he would rather wish to seize hold of me. 
His bayonet was more dangerous, in case, during this 
long run, my strength failed me. I had, however, 
already made my calculations even upon this point. If 
I remained in prison I was certain to die. *^ Now or 
never," I said to myself. I seized my dressing-gown 
. ... One! ... . 

' But lo ! the violin ceased. 

' I felt as though I should drop. 

' A moment afterwards, however, the music recom- 
menced ; a patrol at that very moment had passed 
through one of the lanes. 

' Directly the sentinel reached the extremity of his 
line, without a moment's pause I threw oS my dressing- 
gown with three well-practised movements, and — I was 
off like an arrow. The sentinel, with a howl, rushed at 
me to seize me, instead of running straight to the gate 
to prevent my escape, and thus described his two sides 
of the triangle, as I foresaw. I was so weak, however, 
that those who saw our desperate race from above said 
that the soldier was within three paces of me, and that 
his bayonet, which he thrust forward, was within an 
ace of touching me. This, however, I did not see. I 
only heard his howling and that of the carters who were 
unloading the wood at the bottom of the courtyard. 

' On reaching the gate I saw a vehicle ; but for a 
moment I was in doubt whether it was ours, for I could 



TWO ESCAPES. 157 

not recognise my friend in the officer who was on the 
alert in the street. To make him turn round I clapped 
my hands, to the surprise of the friends who were 
observing this scene. It was taken by them as a sign 
of joy. The officer turned round. I recognised him, 
and in less time that it takes to say these words I was 
inside the yehicle, which went off like a flash of 
lightning, and I was wrapped in a military cloak 
which my friend had in readiness, as well as an officer's 
cap. 

'At the liospital, as we afterwards learnt, an in- 
credible uproar followed. The officer of the guard 
hastened out with his soldiers, at the shouts of the 
sentinel. Completely losing his head, he tore his hair, 
and exclaimed : 

* "I am ruined ! I am ruined ! Run after him. 
Follow him. Follow him ! " 

* He was incapable, however, of giving any orders. 
One of our party, the signalman, the very one who 
played the violin, hastily descended into the street, and 
approaching the officer, began to exhibit the utmost 
compassion for the state he was in, actually asking him 
what had happened, who had escaped, how, when, 
where, &c. The frenzied officer tried to reply to him, 
and thus lost precious time. 

'An old woman gave a terrible piece of advice. 

' " They will go a roundabout way," she said, '' and 
then make straight for the Nevski. There can't be a 
doubt about it. Take out the horses from these omni- 



158 EEVOLUTIOXABY SKETCHES. 

buses [there were some at the hospital gate], and cut off 
their escape. It is the simplest thing possible." 

' This was exactly the course we were adopting, but 
the old crone's advice was not followed.' 

II. 

When Krapotkine had finished his narrative, the 
turn came of John Bokanovski, ' surnamed the Cossack, 
because, being a native of the Ukraine, he resembled 
the ancient Cossacks of that country, by his courage, 
his imperturbable coolness, and his taciturnity. 

Everyone turned towards him. He took his little 
wooden pipe from his mouth, and said : ' Why, there's 
nothing to relate. He came, took us, and we went out ; 
that's all.' 

' No, no ! ' exclaimed those present. ' Eelate it all, 
from beginning to end.' 

^Well, then, when the day fixed arrived, he came 
with the keys of our cells — ' 

' No, no,' they broke in again. ' Let us have it all. 
Eelate everything from the commencement.' 

The Cossack, seeing that every way of escape was 

closed against him, slowly filled his pipe with the air 

of a man preparing for a long journey, lit it, tried it to 

see if it drew properly, and began his narrative, which 

contained more words perhaps than the Cossack would 

ordinarily pronounce in three months at least. 

^ He escaped from the Kieff prison in the summer of 1878, with 
Leo Deuc and Jacob Stefanovic. (See the chapter upon the latter.) 



TWO ESCAPES. J59 

^ Michael came to the prison about two months 
before our flight. It was a very long and difficult 
business to get him in. At last he succeeded in being 
received, with a false passport of a rustic named 
Fomenko, first as a mere odd-man, and afterwards as a 
warder. 

"In a short time, by his diligence in the performance 
of his duties, and his unexceptionable conduct, he suc- 
ceeded in gaining the favour of all his superiors. A 
month afterwards, he was promoted to the rank of liead 
warder in one of the corridors of the prisoners confined 
for ordinary offences. 

' In order to give the Governor of the prison a splen- 
did proof of his excellent moral qualities, Michael, act- 
ing on the advice of Stefanovic, went one day to play 
the spy upon him, while the latter was writing, ex- 
pressly for the purpose in his cell, a note of no import- 
ance whatever, so as to be taken in flagrante delicto. 

' The Governor would not, however, take advantage 
of this denunciation. 

' It should be stated that in the prison at Kieff, the 
position of the political prisoners was quite exceptional 
at that time. The Terrorism which at the commence- 
ment struck at the secondary officials, produced such a 
panic fear at Kieff that everyone, from the Procurator 
to the Governor of the prison, vied with the rest in pay- 
ing court to us ; for they all feared they would be killed 
at our first signal. When the Governor learned that 
it was that very Stefanovic, the most feared of all, who 



IGO EEYOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

was writing, he said, * Let him write,' and did nothing 
more. From that day, however, Michael had gained 
his heart. 

^ In order to make himself agreeable to us, the polit- 
ical prisoners, the Governor had appointed as our head 
warder, a certain Kikita, an excellent man, as good as 
gold. It was essential, however, to get rid of him at 
all hazards, as, on his post becoming vacant, it would 
most probably be given to Michael. 

* This, however, was no easy matter. The woi-thy 
man had done nothing whatever to us, so we auda- 
ciously invented offences which he had not even thought 
of committing, in order that we miglit complain 
to the Governor, who censured him, reprimanded 
him, and threatened him, although he was not in 
the least to blame. But the honest fellow, instead 
of growing angry with us, and committing, as we 
hoped, some imprudent act, bore all quite quietly, re- 
peating : 

' "Jesus Christ suffered. I also will suffer." 

' We were in despair. At last Valerian Ossinsky, who 
was organising our escape outside, luckily thought of 
going to the tavern which Nikita frequented, and, 
having made his acquaintance there, as thougli by acci- 
dent, said he was in want of a book-keeper for a sugar 
refinery in the country. The conditions were very ad- 
vantageous, and Nikita swallowed the bait. Having 
received his travelling expenses, and a month's pay in 
advance, Xikita resigned his situation in the prison, as 



TWO ESCAPES. 161 

he had to set out immediately. Then came various de- 
lays, and then others, until our escape haying been 
effected, his passport was sent to him, and a note in 
which he was told that nothing more was wanted of 
him, and that he would have no difficulty in guessing 
the reason. 

' His post in the prison being vacant, the governor 
went to Stefanovic and Deuc, to speak in a friendly 
manner with them, respecting the appointment of his 
successor. 

'''Don't you think that Fomenko [Michael] would 
be a very good man? " 

' Stefanovic made a grimace, and reflected. 

' "A spy, it seems." 

'"No, no. He is an excellent fellow." The gov- 
ernor defended him. 

' Michael was appointed head warder in the corridor 
of the political prisoners. 

' The most important move was made ; but this was 
not all. He might open the doors of our cells, but how 
were four of us to pass out of a prison under military 
guard ? 

'Meanwhile not a minute of time was to be lost. 
Michael's position was terribly dangerous. The prison 
was crammed with political offenders of all kinds, from 
mere lads, confined there on -suspicion, to Eevolution- 
ists seriously compromised. There were prisoners of 
every rank, and owing to his past activity, ]\Iichael was 
known and recognised by many. No denunciation was 



» 

162 EEYOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

to be feared; for Michael, having been for many years 
'^illegal" kept up no direct intercourse except with 
those who could be trusted. Who, however, could 
guarantee him against innocent indiscretions especially 
in such a ticklish matter as this ? 

* We were upon tenter-hooks. 

' We resolved to take advantage at the earliest pos- 
sible opportunity, of the favourable position in which 
we were placed by Michael's appointment. No sooner 
was he thoroughly established in his new office, than we 
fixed the night for our escape. 

* The most natural mode of passing out, was that of 
disguising ourselves as sentinels who, having finished 
their turn of duty, were leaving to return to their bar- 
racks. Michael prepared soldiers' uniforms for two of 
us, but two others had to remain in civilian dress. For 
the whole four of us there was only one sword, but we 
determined not to wait for more. 

' On the evening of the day fixed, Michael brought 
us the military uniforms. We disguised ourselves and 
then arranged the counterpanes of our beds in such a 
manner, that in the morning it would appear as though 
we were asleep. 

'At midnight Michael came to open the doors of our 
cells. But here an unforeseen obstacle arose. The 
warder on duty, who had to watch all night, came into 
our corridor at that very moment, and showed not the 
slightest eagerness to leave it. 

* Stefanovic thereupon let a book with loose leaves 



TWO ESCAPES. 163 

fall, as though by accident, into the garden. There the 
leaves were scattered about on the ground, and Stefano- 
vic, turning to Michael, begged him to fetch them at 
once. Michael sent the warder to pick them up, and 
take them to the office. While the latter was thus 
occupied, we noiselessly left our cells, and proceeded 
towards the entrance. 

' When we had passed through the corridor, a terri- 
ble occurrence happened at the end. The rope of the 
alarm-bell was dangling there. Groping along against 
the wall in utter darkness, I stumbled against some- 
thing. I felt myself slipping, instinctively stretched 
out my hands, felt something touch my fingers, and 
caught hold of it to avoid falling. On the instant, a 
loud sound boomed throughout the prison. I had 
caught hold of the bell-rope. The horror, the shame, 
the absurdity of our unfortunate accident, flashed upon 
me like lightning. We thought all was lost. Already 
the noise and the voices of the soldiers on guard, who 
were hastily mustering, were heard. Michael, however, 
did not lose his coolness. He told us to hide ourselves 
in various corners, and ran to the guard, saying that it 
was he who had rung the bell by accident. All became 
quiet again. But then another perplexity arose ; having 
hidden ourselves in various corners, we were within an 
ace of losing each other in the utter darkness, when we 
wanted to come forth. Michael had to run hither and 
thither to get us together again. Once more in order, 
we started again. The greatest difficulty, however, was 



164 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

yet to come. AYe had to pass through the gate of the 
prison before the door-keeper and the sentinel. In this, 
however, we succeeded admirably. On hearing the 
Yoice of Michael, the door-keeper gave him the key to 
open the wicket, and the sentinel in his box paid no 
attention to our strange attire. 

' We had advanced a few steps, when lo ! an officer 
stood before us as though he had sprung from the 
ground. He, however, paid no attention, and we saw 
the handsome face of Valerian Ossinsky, who, radiant 
with joy, grasped our hands. He was awaiting us with 
a vehicle, so as to hurry us at full speed towards the 
Dnieper, where a skiff fitted for a long voyage, and sup- 
plied with provisions of every kind, was ready. 

^ A moment afterwards we glided into the middle of 
the river and steered southward. This voyage lasted 
about a week. By night we hauled our boat up under 
the thickets on the banks, so as to get some hours' rest. 
By day we tugged hard at the oars, and whenever we 
caught sight on the distant horizon of the smoke of 
some steamer, we hid ourselves in the rushes which line 
the Dnieper. 

* On arriving at Kremenciug we again met Ossinsky, 
who had reached there by railway, and was waiting for ' 
us with passports and everything necessary. 

^Erom him we learnt that the whole city of Kieff 
had been thrown into commotion, because it was be- 
lieved w^e were concealed there. 

^ At the prison our escape was not discovered until 



TWO ESCAPES. 165 

broad daylight. When it was seen that Michael had also 
disappeared with, us, no one divined the truth. He had 
inspired such confidence, that the Goyernor and eyery- 
body belieyed we bad killed him, and search was made 
in yain for his body in eyery direction. 

^ It was not until the necessary yerifications had been 
made, and it was found that his passport was a false one, 
that the mystery was explained, which had, until then, 
been incomprehensible.' 

Thus finished the Cossack's narratiye. 

Others spoke afterwards ; but their narratives being 
of little interest, and my space 'valuable, I will not 
repeat them. 



166 



THE UKRIVATELL 

(the concealers.) 

We are again in St. Petersburg. I was pursued ; I had 
the police at my heels. Twice I had to change my 
lodgings, and my passport. 

I could not, however, quit the capital for any pro- 
yincial town. I had a post which I could not leave to 
anyone, and then I was so fond of that city with its 
volcanic throbbings and its nervous and ardent life, 
under an aspect cold and calm. 

I hoped that the storm, which from time to time 
bursts over almost all the * illegal ' men, would after a 
while subside of itself, and that I should weather it, 
with a slight increase of precaution in my own house, 
without needing to have recourse to the ' Ukrivateli. ' 

But what are these ^ Ukrivateli ' ? 

They are a very large class, composed of people in 
every position, beginning with the aristocracy and the 
upper middle class, and reaching even to the minor 
officials in every branch of the Government service, 
including the police, who, sharing the revolutionary 
ideas, take no active part in the struggle, for various 
reasons, but, making use of their social position, lend 



THE UKEIVATELI. 167 

powerful support to the combatants, by concealing, 
whenever necessary, both objects and men. 

It would require a special volume to describe this 
unique body, which is a very large one, and perhaps 
more mixed than the militant body. I have no preten- 
sion, however, to do more than present in this essay of 
mine some types among those whom I have had the 
opportunity of personally knowing. 

I was just finishing my tea when the dvornih 
entered my room, not the dvornih of the house, who 
is the representative of the supreme power of the police, 
but our friend the terrible dvorniJc, who received this 
pseudonym as a joke because he would not permit any 
neglect or transgression in anything relating to the 
precautions for security prescribed by our * Constitu- 
tion.' 

* What is the matter ? ' I asked, offering him a cup, 
for I knew very well that he would not have come ex- 
cept on ^business.' 

'You are under surveillance even here,' he replied. 
' It must be stopped ; I have come to take you to a 
place of concealment.' 

I expected it. As no one, however, cares to go to 
prison of his own free will in a city full of life and 
activity, I asked the dvornih for explanations. 

He began his story, I listened to him, and as I 
sipped my tea, I put some little questions to him in 
order to convince myself of the reality of the danger. 



168 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

Our life is so occupied, that if we paid attention to 
everything, we might as well throw ourselyes into the 
Neva at once. 

To say the truth, it was nothing of much moment 
even now ; I was under surveillance, but only slightly. 
The thing might blow over, and if anybody else but the 
dvornih had come, I should have rebelled, so as to pre- 
serve my independence a little longer ; but he was not to 
be trifled with. After some vain attempts at resistance, 
I was obliged to consent to place myself in his hands. 

I asked him where he wanted to take me. 
*To Bucephalus.' 

I sighed deeply in thinking upon my wretched fate. 
This Bucephalus was a certain Councillor Tarakanoff,^ 
an official in the Ministry of the Interior, and v^as thus 
nicknamed because, like the horse of Alexander of 
Macedon, he was afraid of his own shadow. 

He was as timid as a hare, and was afraid of every- 
thing. He never stationed himself near the window, 
because he was afraid of draughts ; he never crossed 
the Neva in a boat, because he was afraid he should be 
drowned ; he never married, because he was afraid he 
should be jilted. 

Being, however, an ardent disciple of Cerniscevsky, 
he theoretically shared the ideas of the Eevolutionists, 

I I consider it my duty to warn the reader that, while preserv- 
ing every characteristic feature, I have changed names, and cer- 
tain details of no importance, so as to destroy the identity of those 
■who must not be recognised by the police. I have done so in this 
sketch, as in A Trip to St. Petersburg. 



THE UKRIYATEU. 169 

and knowing many of tliem personally, willingly under- 
took the office of concealer, and was one of the safest. 
His official position, and, perhaps even more, his "char- 
acter, which had so little in it of the Eevolutionist, 
placed him above all suspicion — not less, and perhaps 
more, than Caesar's wife. He knew very well that he 
was not threatened in any direction ; neyertheless, he 
always took the strictest measures for his own security, 
and saw spies eyerywhere. 

It is easy to imagine that, with such a custodian, the 
lot of those under his guardianship would be disagreea- 
ble enough. 

I remarked to the dvornih that it would be better to 
wait for the evening before leaving, because then the 
spies he had seen prowling about the house, perhaps 
would have gone away. He, however, said ' No,' adding 
that, as for the spies, he would answer for them. 

When tea was over, we proceeded to * clear ' the 
room, that is, to destroy every scrap of paper which 
might be of use to the police. After informing the 
mistress of the house that I was going for a few days 
into the country, and that I would write to her if I 
stayed, &c., we left. 

We had advanced a few steps when I saw two gentle- 
men at a window, as though on the lookout. The 
dvornih, pointing them out to me with a glance, made 
an imperceptible sign with his head which signified 
* there they are,' and then another with his chin, which 

meant ^ let us be off.' 
8 



170 KEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

The ^ chase ' commenced, but it is too uninteresting 
an occurrence to be described and too common to trouble 
about. With a man like my companion, it was some- 
thing of an amusement. 

The dvornih was a thorough specialist in everything 
relating to the struggle with the police and the spies, and 
in this branch had vast knowledge, increased by long 
and indefatigable study. Haying hired a room on pur- 
pose, exactly opposite the house of the chief of the 
Secret Police, he passed whole days in observing every- 
one who entered. Thus he knew by sight a good num- 
ber of the St. Petersburg spies, and made a species of 
classification according to their manners, character, 
method of surveillance, of giving chase, &c., and could 
furnish most interesting particulars upon all these 
details. From having had so much to do with this 
vile set, he acquired a special ability in recognising 
them at a glance, by certain indications, so insignifi- 
cant that they escape the most observant eyes. He 
really resembled one of Cooper's Eedskins, warring 
with the hostile race. Then, too, the dvornih had 
the topography of St. Petersburg at his fingers' ends, 
and knew every one of the houses with two en- 
trances, having made a long and patient study of 
them. 

Passing through these houses, and dodging about in 
different directions, on foot, and in cabs, he succeeded 
in half an hour in ' sweeping away our traces,' as he 
said, and we set out for Tarakanoil's with a profusion 



THE UKEIVATELI. 171 

of precautions, of signs and of signals, which were the 
weakness of the dvorniJc, 

Tarakanoff, a man of about thirty-five, short, fat, 
and chubby, was expecting us, having been informed of 
our coming. He himself opened the door, and immedi- 
ately took us into an inner room. It was an entirely 
superfluous precaution, for he was quite alone in his 
little lodging of three rooms ; but Tarakanoff could not 
help taking it. 

As we were slightly acquainted, no introduction was 
necessary. 

Tarakanoff began by asking if we had not been seen 
ascending the staircase. 

^You know,' he added, ^the lodger downstairs, a 
woman with great staring eyes, a milliner or something 
of that sort, always looks at me when she sees me pass. 
She's a spy, I am sure of it.' 

As we replied in the negative, he was reassured ; but 
turning to me, said with a serious look : 

' In any case you must never leave the place. By 
day there is the milliner, by night there is the door- 
keeper, who is also a spy. It is very dangerous. Every- 
thing necessary, I myself will bring you.' 

I mournfully assented with a nod, especially as I felt 
that the severe look of the dvornih was upon me. 

When the latter had gone, Tarakanoff took me into 
the room intended for me, where I found a little writing- 
table, some books upon political economy, and a sofa to 
serve me as a bed. 



172 REVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

A few days before, he had dismissed his cook ; it was 
said, because he suspected her also of being a spy ; but 
Tarakanoff denied this, saying that it was mere banter, 
and that he dismissed her because she pilfered so much 
out of the expenses. Meanwhile he determined not to 
engage another cook, but had his dinner sent in from a 
neighbouring eating-house. 

Not wishing to disturb his habits, Tarakanoff went 
out and left me alone. He promised, however, to return 
towards dark. The ga's had been for lighted a long while 
in the street before me, and yet he did not return. I 
began to grow apprehensive. At last, however, I heard 
the key turn in the door, and he reappeared, safe and 
sound. 

I shook him heartily by the hand, and told him of 
my fears. 

' I did not care to come back straight,' he replied, 
'lest I should be followed, and I have, therefore, re- 
turned in a somewhat roundabout way.' 

I marvelled inwardly at the strange precautions of 
the worthy man. It was as though a doctor had taken 
his own medicine, in order to cure his patient. 

We passed the evening together, chatting on various 
subjects. At the least noise upon the staircase, Tara- 
kanoff broke off to listen. I endeavoured to tranquil- 
lise him, and said that there could not be any danger. 

'Yes,' he replied, frankly, 'I know it, otherwise I 
should not have invited you ; but I can't help it. lam 
afraid.' 



THE UKEIYATELI. 173 

Towards midnight I took leave of my host to go to 
bed. While I remained awake, I heard him incessantly 
pacing his room. 

On the following day, when Tarakanoff had gone to 
his office, after we had taken tea together, the dvornilc 
came to pay me a yisit, and to bring me a commission 
to write an article upon some circumstance of the mo- 
ment, also bringing with him the necessary materials, 
newspapers and books. I thanked him heartily, both 
for his visit and for his commission, and begged him 
to return as early as possible, the next day or the 
day after, promising to do everything in my power to 
finish the article. 

In the evening I worked diligently, and passed a 
good part of the night at the desk. At intervals I 
heard my host turning in his bed. Two o'clock struck; 
three, four ; he was not asleep. What was the matter ? 
He could not be disturbed by the noise I made, for I 
had put on his slippers on purpose. It could not even 
be the light, for the door was close shut. Could he 
be ill ? I remembered that, the day before, I saw 
he was looking rather pale, but I paid no attention 
to it. 

In the morning I was awakened by the noise of the 
cups which he was getting ready for the tea. I rose 
immediately, so as not to keep him waiting. 

He had, in fact, a woful aspect. He was pale, 
almost yellowish ; his eyes were sunken ; his look was 
dejected. 



174: REYOLUnONAEY SKETCHES. 

' What is the matter with you ? ' I asked. 

'Nothing.' 

' Nothing I Why you have the face of a corpse, and 
you did not sleep before four o'clock.' 

' Say rather that I did not sleep all night.' 

' But you must be ill, then.' 

' No ; I can never sleep when there is anyone with 
me.' 

Then I understood all. 

I took his hand and shook it warmly. 

'I thank you with all my heart/ I said ; 'but I will 
not cause you so much trouble, and at the very first 
moment I will go away.' 

' No, no ; certainly not ; certainly not. If I had 
imagined what you were going to say, I would have con- 
cealed it. You must remain. It is nothing.' 

'But you may fall ill.' 

'Don't give it a thought. I can sleep by day, or, 
better still, take some medicine.' 

I learnt afterwards, in fact, that in such cases he 
took chloral when he could bear up no longer. 

Our conyersation ended there. 

I looked at him with a mixed feeling of astonish- 
ment and of profound respect. This man was ludicrous 
iu his fear ; but how great he was in his devotion ! I 
knew that his house was always open to all who were in 
my position, and that some of our party had remained 
there for weeks, as his guests. What must this man 
have suffered, who, by a cruel caprice of nature, was 



THE UKKIVATELI. 175 

deprived of that merely physiological quality called 
courage ? How great, on the other hand, must haye 
been his moral force ! 

When, on the following day, the dvornih came to 
fetch my article, I told him that I would not, on any 
account, remain longer with my host, and I begged him 
to find me another place of concealment as soon as 
possible. 

To my great astonishment he consented without 
offering much resistance. 

'I have seen Seroff to-day,' he said, ^and he asked 
about you ; if you like, I will speak to him. Just now, 
it seems, he is in an excellent position.' 

Nothing could be better. The matter was soon 
settled. Two days afterwards I had already received a 
reply in the affirmative from Seroff. 

I arranged the matter so as to make my host believe 
I was going to a provincial town on certain business, 
and after having shaken hands and warmly thanked him, 
I took my leave. 

' Good-bye for the present. Good-bye for the pres- 
ent,' he repeated. ^ A pleasant journey. When you 
return I shall expect you. I am always at your service. 
Don't forget. ' 

The night was already beginning to spread its sable 
wings over the capital when I left. I was alone, for I 
knew very well how to find Seroff, who was an old 
friend. 



176 REYOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

11. 

There was a flood of light in the room. Around a 
large table, upon which a great shining samovar was 
steaming, five or six persons of both sexes were seated. 
They were Seroff's family, with some intimate friends. 

The host rose with a joyous exclamation. 

Boris Seroff was a man already in years. His thick 
long hair was almost white. It was not, however, years 
alone which had blanched this haughty head, for he 
was only fifty. 

He had been implicated in the first conspiracies of 
the reign of Alexander II. Towards the year 1861, 
being an army surgeon at Kasan, he took an active part 
in the military conspiracy of Ivanizky, and others of 
the same character, one of the most glorious episodes of 
the Kussian revolutionary movement, too soon forgotten 
by the present generation — and had to look on at the 
inhuman slaughter of all his friends. By a miracle he 
escaped detection, and some years afterwards settled in 
St. Petersburg. 

From that time, however, the police kept him in 
sight, and almost every year paid him a domiciliary 
visit. He was imprisoned ten or twelve times, although 
his confinement never lasted long, as the police could 
not succeed in proving anything against him. It is 
true, he no longer took an active part in the conspir- 
acies, for so many years of continuous effort, and of con- 
tinuous failure, had extinguished in him, what is the 
soul of all revolutionary activity — faith. From the 



THE UKKIVATELI. 177 

enthusiasm of his early years, he had passed to that dis- 
heartening scepticism which, in Russia, is the bane of 
the cultivated classes. Hence, among us in our reyolu- 
tions, mature men are rare. Only the young and the 
old are to be met with. 

'No scepticism, however, could eradicate from the 
heart of Boris Seroff an affection and a kind of worship 
for those who, more fortunate or more youthful than 
himself, were able to remain in the ranks of the com- 
batants. This affection, combined with a certain 
chivalrous spirit, and an unparalleled courage, always 
impelled him to render every kind of service to the 
Revolutionists. 

So many years' experience had given him great 
ability in everything relating to the externals of con- 
spiracy ; the organisation of correspondence, places of 
deposit for books, newspapers and prohibited papers, 
collection of money by subscriptions or monthly pay- 
ments, &c. But he was unrivalled in the most difficult 
and most valuable of all accessory functions, that of the 
Concealer, which he exercised continually. Indeed, 
one day he invited some friends to celebrate the jubilee 
of his tenth year of successful service in this office. 
With his courage, which was proof against everything, 
he never exaggerated anything, and never mistook the 
shadows created by over-excited imagination for real 
dangers. If, however, there were danger, he never 
avoided it. He could discern the approach of the police 

in the distance, and even detect their traces when they 
8* 



178 KEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

had passed on, exactly like sporting dogs with game. 
From the more or less martial aspect of the gorodovoi 
(municipal guard) standing at the corner of the street, 
he was able to determine whether the man had orders 
to watch his house or not. From certain inflections of 
the dvornik^s Yoice, from his manner of raising his hat 
when he passed, Seroff could divine whether the police 
had spoken to the man and in what sense. From cer- 
tain mysterious signs and tokens, he could tell when a 
search was imminent. 

A man whom he took under his protection might, 
therefore, sleep with both eyes shut. 

To giye an idea of the account in which he was 
held as a Concealer, it will suffice to say that it was to 
his house Vera Zassulic was taken by her admirers after 
her acquittal, when the whole city was tui-ned topsy- 
turvy in the search for her, and the honour of the entire 
party was involved in secreting her. 

Sophia Perovskaia, who was a great friend of his, 
used to say that when Boris Seroff put up the safety 
signal over his door, she entered much more at ease than 
the Emperor entered his palace. 

Such was the man whose hand I shook. 

I joined the company seated around the table, and 
passed that evening very pleasantly, and every other 
evening while I remained in his house. 

This was not only the safest, but also the pleasantest 
imaginable of our places of concealment. Seroff never 
required any of those superfluous precautions, which 



THE UKEIVATELI. 179 

are so wearisome, and in time become insupportable. 
By day I remained at work in an inner room, so as to 
avoid being seen by the chance visitors who came to 
consult him as a medical practitioner. At night I was 
occasionally allowed to go out. Usually, however, I 
spent the evening there in the pleasant company of his 
family, graced by two charming young girls, his daugh- 
ters, with whom I soon formed that close friendship, so 
common in Russia between women and men, and so 
natural in our respective positions ; I, the protected ; 
they, the protectors. 

My stay in this family lasted, however, only about a 
week. 

One day Seroff, who had come in at the dinner hour, 
turned to me and smilingly uttered, with a little incli- 
nation of the head, his customary remark : 

' They smell a rat.' 

^ What has happened ? What has happened ? ' ex- 
claimed the ladies. 

' Oh, nothing yet,' he said. ' But they smell a rat.' 

^ Do you think that the danger is imminent ? ' I 
asked. 

^No, I don't think so,' replied Seroff musingly, as 
though he were at the same time mentally weighing the 
matter. 

* I expect them, however, in a few days ; but, in any 
case, you must leave.' 

To the suggestions of such a man, no objections of 
any kind could be urged. 



180 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

After dinner, Seroff went and warned our friends, 
and the same evening I took my leave, grieved beyond 
measure to leave this delightful family, and, in company 
with a friend, recommenced my pilgrimage. 

A few days afterwards I was informed tliat the police 
had in fact gone to Seroff's to pay him their ' sanitary 
visit,' as he called these almost periodical searches; but 
finding nothing suspicious, they went away again with 
empty hands. 

III. 

Madame Ottilia Horn was an old lady of about sev- 
enty. She was not a Eussian, and she could only speak 
our language very badly. She had nothing whatever to 
do with our questions, home or foreign. She was, never- 
theless, a Nihilist ; nay, a furious Terrorist. 

The story of her conversion to Nihilism is so singular 
that it deserves to be related. 

Madame Ottilia was a Dane. She came with her 
first husband to Eiga, and soon being left a widow, mar- 
ried a Eussian, and proceeded to St. Petersburg, where 
her spouse obtained a small appointment in the police. 
She would have quietly passed her days there without 
ever thinking of Terrorism or Nihilism, or an3^thing of 
the kind, if Fate had not decreed that the Princess Dag- 
mar should become the wife of the hereditary Prince of 
the Eussian Empire. 

It was really this event, however, which impelled 
Madame Ottilia towards Nihilism ; and in this manner. 

Being a Dane by birth, and of a very fanciful dis- 



THE UKRIVATEIJ. 181 

position, she conceived the ambitious plan of obtaining 
for her husband one of the innumerable Court appoint- 
ments in the establishment of the new Archduchess. In 
order to carry out her project, Madame Ottilia went in 
person and presented herself to the Danish ambassador, 
so that he might use his influence in favour of her hus- 
band ; her first spouse, half a century before, having had 
either a contract or some small post — I don't remember 
which — at the Court of Copenhagen. 

As was to be expected, the ambassador would have 
nothing whatever to do with the matter, and sent her 
away ; but as Madame Ottilia was extremely tenacious 
of purpose, she returned to the charge, and then he was 
discourteous enough to laugh at her. 

Hence arose in the fiery mind of Madame Ottilia an 
implacable hatred against the poor ambassador. 

How was she to gratify it ? Evidently she must chafe 
in secret without any probability of succeeding. 

In this manner years and years passed. 

Meanwhile the Nihilists had commenced their under- 
takings. An idea flashed through the mind of Madame 
Ottilia. ' This is exactly what I want,' she repeated to 
herself, and became inflamed with unbounded enthu- 
siasm for the Nihilists ; perhaps because she hoped that, 
having commenced with Trepoff, Mesenzefl, and Krapot- 
kine, they would finish with the Danish ambassador, the 
greatest scoundrel of all ; perhaps because the hatred 
against a man in the upper ranks, so many years re- 
strained, burst forth in every direction and extended to 



182 REYOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

his entire class. No one can sa}^ what was hrooding in 
her mind. Who can divine, in fact, the thoughts pass- 
ing through the giddy brain of a woman of seventy ? 
The undeniable fact, thoroughly true and historical, is 
that Madame Ottilia was seized with an immense admi- 
ration for the Nihilists. 

As she let out rooms to the students, who are all 
more or less Nihilists, they, after laughing at first, at 
the tardy political ardour of Madame Ottilia, ended by 
taking it seriously ; for, in the investigations to which 
almost all the students are subjected, Madame Ottilia 
gave proof of a courage and a presence of mind by no 
means common. She succeeded in hiding away books 
and compromising papers under the very nose of the 
police, thanks to her age, which placed her above all 
suspicion ; and to jfll the questions of the Procurator 
she replied with a shrewdness and prudence worthy of 
all praise. 

The students put her in communication with some 
members of the organisation, and Madame Ottilia began 
her revolutionary career, first by taking charge of books, 
then of correspondence, and so on, until she ended by 
becoming an excellent Concealer ; she could be thorough- 
ly trusted. She was prudence itself, and incorruptible, 
as she showed on various occasions. 

This was related to me by my companion, as we 
passed through the streets of the capital to the little 
house upon the Kamenostrovsky, which Madame Ottilia 
possessed. 



THE rKEB'ATELI. 183 

The lady was awaiting its. She was a tall, sturdy 
woman, with an energetic, almost martial aspect, and 
seemed to be not more than fifty-five or sixt}^ 

Although this was the first time I had seen her, I 
was received with open arms, like a relative returning 
after a long absence. She immediately brought in the 
samovar with bread, milk, and sweets, bustled about, 
and showed me the room prepared for me, where I found 
all sorts of little preparations made, which only women 
think about. 

Madame Ottilia eagerly asked me for news of such 
and such a one, who had had to spend some few weeks 
in her house. Evidently, after having made personal 
acquaintance with the Terrorists, whom at first she ad- 
mired at a distance, she had ended by loving them as 
tenderly as though they were her own children ; espe- 
cially as she had none. But all her tenderness was con- 
centrated upon those entrusted to her protection. I had 
much ado to keep her from troubling too much about 
me. She would, however, insist upon introducing me 
to her husband. 

The poor old fellow was just about to get into bed, 
but she imperiously made him get up, and "a few 
minutes afterwards he entered, wrapped up in a shabby 
dressing gown, and came shuffling in, with his slippers 
down at heel. 

With a little childish smile playing about his tooth- 
less mouth, he stretched out his hand to me, making re- 
peated bows with his bald head. 



184 EEYOLUTIOXAEY SKETCHES. 

The worthy old fellow was all submission to his fiery 
consort. 

^ If necessary/ said Madame Ottilia, with a martial 
gesture, * I will send him to-morrow to the police office 
to get some information.' 

The worthy old fellow kept on smiling, and bowing 
his bald head. 

He also had been affiliated to the Xihilists by his 
energetic wife. 

It was in the house of this excellent woman that I^ 
passed all my time until the storm had blown over, and 
the police, following up the tracks of others, had for- 
gotten me. On being restored to liberty, I returned to 
active life, under another name, and in another district 
of the capital. 



185 



THE SECRET PRESS. 

To establish a secret printing office, to give that power- 
ful weapon to the Freethoiight which struggles against 
Despotism, had always been the ardent, imperious desire 
of all the organisations, directly they felt themselves in 
a position to undertake anything of importance. 

As far back as the year 18G0, when the first Secret 
Societies were formed for the purpose of effecting the 
Agrarian Revolution, such as the Societies named * Land 
and Liberty' and ^ Young Russia,' we see the first rudi- 
mentary attempts to establish something like a printing 
press in embryo, which, however, lasted only a few weeks. 

It was evident, henceforth, that the free press already 
existing abroad, although it had a writer like Herzen at 
its head, no longer sufficed for the wants of the militant 
party. 

During the last ten or fifteen years, when the move- 
ment had acquired a force and an extent previously un- 
known, the insufficiency of the free printing offices at 
work in Switzerland and in London, became more and 
more manifest, and the need of a local press ready to 
respond to the questions of the moment, became more 
and more urgent. 



186 KEVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

Hence, all the organisations which afterwards 
dwindled down and disappeared one after the other in 
the prisons, and the fortresses, and the mines of Sibe- 
ria, attempted to establish their printing offices in Eus- 
sia itself. 

A fatality seemed, however, to weigh upon the under- 
takings of this kind ; all proved short lived, and lasted 
only for a moment. They were sure to be discovered, 
directly they were established. 

The Circle of the Karakosovzi had its printing 
office,, which lasted only a few months. • 

The Circle of Neciaevzi had its own, but it had to 
be kept hidden all the time, until it was discovered 
together with the organisation. The Dolguscinzi also 
had theirs, which was discovered directly it had printed 
two proclamations. The Circle of the Ciackovzi made 
several attempts to establish one, and had the type 
and an excellent machine ready, but was not even lucky 
enough to set it up, and for five years the machine and 
the type remained hidden away in some hole and cor- 
ner, the organisation being unable to make any use of 
them. 

The difficulty, in fact, of setting up a printing office 
in a country where everything is watched, seemed in- 
surmountable, because inherent in the undertaking. 
Books, papers, men, may be hidden ; but how is a 
printing office to be hidden, which by its very nature 
betrays itself ; which, in addition to its complicated and 
often noisy operations, requiring many people in com- 



THE SECBET PRESS. 187 

bination, demands the continuous use of paper in large 
quantities, afterwards to be sent out as printed matter ? 

After the innumerable attempts which had been 
made and had failed, the establishment of a Secret Press 
was universally recognised, not as being merely difficult, 
but impossible ; it was only an idle dream, a waste of 
money, and a useless and senseless sacrifice of men. 

Earnest men did not speak about it, and did not 
care to hear it spoken of. ' 

There was, however, a ^dreamer' who would not 
accept the universally received opinion. He main- 
tained, in the teeth of everyone, that a secret printing 
office could be established in St. Petersburg itself, and 
that he would establish it, if supplied with the neces- 
sary means. 

This dreamer, named Aaron Zundelevic, was a 
native of Wilna (Lithuania) and the son of a little 
Jewish shopkeeper. 

In the organisation to which he belonged (which 
afterwards adopted the motto, always old and always 
new, 'Land and Liberty') everyone laughed at first at 
the fancies of Zundelevic; but he overcame this mis- 
trust. About 400Z. was allotted to him ; he went 
abroad, brought everything necessary to St. Petersburg, 
and having mastered the compositor's art, he taught it 
to four other persons, and established with them in 
1877^Hhe free printing office' in St. Petersburg, the 
first deserving that name, as it could be kept going 
regularly, and print works of some size. 



188 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

The plan upon which lie established his undertaking 
was so well conceived and arranged, that for four con- 
secutive years the police, notwithstanding the most 
obstinate search, discovered nothing, until treachery 
and a mere accident came to their aid. 

The ice was, however, already broken. One press 
destroyed, others were established upon the same plan, 
which kept on, and worked without interruption. 

And from time to time, from secret hiding places, a 
mighty voice arises amid the whispers of so many hypo- 
crites and flatterers, which drowns their feeble clamour, 
and, resounding from the Frozen Sea to the Black Sea, 
makes Despotism tremble beneath its blood-stained pur- 
ple ; for it proclaims aloud that there is a greater power 
than Despotism, the power of Ereethought, which has 
its abiding place in generous hearts, and its instruments 
in zealous arms. 

Freethought called fire and sword to its aid, and 
with these terrible arms engaged in a desperate conflict, 
which will only end with the destruction of Despotism. 
In this conflict, its glorious banner, around which raged 
the thickest of the fight, and upon which the anxious 
looks of the combatants were turned, was the Secret 
Press. "While this banner waved, while all the efforts of 
the enemy failed to wrest it from the hands of its de- 
fenders, there was no reason to despair of the fate of the 
party and the organisation, even after the most terrible 
partial defeats. 

How are we to explain, therefore, the marvellous fact 



THE SECEET PBESS. 189 

of the existence, under the yery eyes of the police, in a 
country like Kussia, of a permanent secret printing 
press ? 

This fact, which gives, in my opinion, a better idea 
of the strength of the party than would be given by 
many dashing enterprises, is explained in a very simple 
manner. It was the result of the devotion of those who 
worked in the printing office, and of the care with which 
they carried out the minutest precautions, in order to 
keep it in operation. 

Nobody went there ; nobody, except those who were 
compelled, knew where it was or anything about it. 

To give an idea of the caution upon this point, it 
need only be said that not only the members of the or- 
ganisation by which the office was maintained, but even 
the editors and contributors of the journal printed there, 
did not know where it was. One person only in the 
management was usually initiated into this secret by the 
representative of the office, and all communications had 
to be kept up by him. 

I went there once only, under these circumstances. 
I was one of the editors of ^ Land and Liberty,' the 
journal of the party before it was divided into two 
sections. 

Communications were carried on at neutral points, 
the safest being always selected. I delivered the man- 
uscripts, took the proofs, and fixed the place and the 
exact time for the next appointment. In case of any 
unforeseen need, or of the communications being inter- 



190 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

rupted, I sent a post-card, fixing a fresh meeting, in a 
manner agreed upon. 

Once, however, as I have said, I went to the office. 
It was on November 30, the very day on which the first 
number of the journal was to appear. That same morn- 
ing a friend came to me, and related that, having gone 
to the house of Trosciansky, where the police were lying 
hid, he was on the point of falling into their hands, but 
succeeded in escaping, thanks to his dexterity, and to 
his lucky idea of calling out ' Stop thief ! stop thief ! ' 
while the police were running after him. 

I was very anxious to insert this piece of news in the 
number about to be issued, for the express purpose of 
ridiculing Zuroff, the head of the police, who declared 
everywhere that our printing office could not possibly be 
in the capital, because otherwise he would infallibly 
have discovered it. 

I profited, therefore, by this occasion to go to the 
printing office, which deeply interested me, especially as 
I had a pressing invitation from the compositors to pay 
them a visit. 

The office was in one of the central streets of the city. 

After infinite precautions, I reached the door, and 
rang in the customary manner. The door was opened 
by Maria Kriloff. I entered with the subdued feeling 
of a worshipper entering a church. 

There were four persons engaged in the office — two 
women and two men. 



THE SECRET PRESS. 191 

Maria Kriloff, who acted as mistress of the house, 
was a woman of about forty-five. She passed for one of 
the oldest and most deserving members of our party. 
She had been implicated in the conspiracies of the Ka- 
rakosovzi. She was imprisone'd and condemned to depor- 
tation to one of the northern provinces, but succeeded 
in escaping, and became one of the ^illegal.' She 
continued to work indefatigably for our cause in various 
ways, until she was arrested at her post, like a soldier, 
arms in hand, in the printing office of the ^ Cerni 
Perediel ' in 1880. Thus, for sixteen consecutive 
years she remained in the ranks of the conspirators, 
caring for nothing except to be of use to the cause, 
and occupying the most modest and dangerous posi- 
tions. 

She had worked in the printing offices from the first, 
and although in very bad health, and half blind from 
increasing shortsightedness, she continued to work, and 
with so much zeal and self-devotion, that, notwith- 
standing her infirmity, she was, as a compositor, equal 
to the most skilled workman. 

Basil Buch, the son of a general and the nephew of 
a senator, passed as the lodger of Madame Kriloff. He 
had a passport as an official in one of the Ministries, 
and went out accordingly every day, at a fixed hour, 
carrying in his portfolio the copies of the paper. He 
was a man of about twenty-six or twenty-seven, pale, 
aristocratically elegant, and so taciturn that, for days 
together, he never opened his mouth. It was he who 



-/^ 



192 BEVOLUTIONABY SKETCHES. 

acted as the medium of communication between the 
printing office and the oiiter world. 

The third compositor did not hand down his name 
to posterity. He had already been in the ranks for 
three years, and was liked and esteemed by all ; but the 
member who introduced him into the organisation being 
dead, nobody else knew his name. He was known by 
the nickname of ^Ptiza' (the bird), given to him on 
account of his Toice, and was never called otherwise. 
He committed suicide when, after four hours of desper- 
ate resistance, the printing office of the ^ Narodnaia 
Volia,' was compelled to yield to the military by which 
it was besieged. 

He lived, thus, unknown, and unknown he de- 
scended into his grave. 

His fate was cruel indeed ; for, by way of greater 
precaution, he lived without his name being placed 
upon the registers of the population, well knowing that 
every passport presented to the police was always a 
danger. He had, therefore, always to remain concealed, 
and for several months never left the house, so as to 
avoid being seen by the dvornik. 

In general, all those who work in the printing offices 
break o2 almost all intimacy with the outer world and 
lead a monastic life ; but the poor ' Bird ' had to carry 
this caution to such an extent, that he was all but a 
complete prisoner, and was eternally shut up along with 
the type, in his dismal cage. 

He was a young man of twenty-two or twenty-three. 



THE SECEET PBESS. 193 

tall, spare, with a skinny face, shaded by long raven 
black hair, which heightened the effect of his cadav- 
erous pallor, arising from continuous deprivation of 
fresh air and light, and from handling the type in this 
atmosphere full of poisonous exhalations. His eyes 
alone were full of life ; very large and black, like those 
of the gazelle, bright, full of inexpressible kindness, 
and melancholy. He was consumptive, and knew it, 
but he would not abandon his post, for he was very 
skilful at the work, and there was no one to take his 
place. 

The fourth person was a girl who passed as the 
servant of Madame Kriloff. I never heard her name. 
She was a girl of about eighteen or nineteen, fair, with 
blue eyes, delicate and graceful, who would have ap- 
peared very beautiful but for the expression of constant 
nervous tension, in her pale face, which produced a most 
painful impression. She was a living reflection of the 
continuous efforts which this life cost, maintained for 
months and months in this terrible place, exposed to 
the incessant prying of so many thousand police spies. 

After the first greetings I explained the object of 
my visit, that is to say, the desire to insert in the paper 
the amusing anecdote of the morning already mentioned. 
It need scarcely be added that this was received with 
the utmost delight. As, however, the paper was already 
set up, something had to be taken away to make room 
for the paragraph, though it was only a few lines. 
9 



194 KEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

I went over all the rooms in wliicli the work was 
carried on. The mechanism was extremely simple. A 
few cases with various kinds of type ; a little cylinder 
just cast, of a kind of gelatinous substance closely re- 
sembling carpenter's glue, and somewhat pleasant to 
smell ; a large heavy cylinder covered wn'th cloth, which 
served as the press ; some blackened brushes and sponges 
in a pan ; two jars of printing ink. Everything was 
arranged in such a manner that it could be hidden in a 
quarter of an hour, in a large clothes-press standing in 
a corner. 

They explained to me the mechanism of the work, 
and smilingly told me of some little artifices which they 
employed to divert the suspicion of the dvornilc, who 
came every day with water, wood, &c. The system 
adopted was not that of not allowing him to enter, but 
precisely the reverse. Under various pretexts, they 
made him see the whole of the rooms as often as possi- 
ble, having first removed everything which could excite 
suspicion. When these pretexts failed, others were 
invented. Being unable to find a plausible reason for 
him to enter the inner room, Madame Kriloff one day 
went and told him that there was a rat there which 
must be killed. The dvornilc went, and certainly found 
nothing ; but the trick was played ; he had seen the 
whole of the rooms, and could bear testimony that there 
was absolutely nothing suspicious in them. Once a 
month they invariably had people in to clean the floors 
of all the rooms. 



THE SECRET PRESS. 195 

I was in no mood, however, to hear of these trifles, 
or to smile at them. 

I was assailed by profound melancholy, at the sight 
of all these people. Inyoluntarily, I compared their 
terrible life with my own, and felt overcome with shame. 
What was our activity in the broad light of day amid 
the excitement of a multitude of friends, and the stir 
of our daily life and struggles, compared with this con- 
tinuous sacrifice of their whole existence, wasting away 
in this dungeon. 

I left. I slowly descended the stairs and went out 
into the street, a prey to various emotions. 

I thought of what I had just seen. I thought of 
the struggle for which they were offering up their 
lives. I thought of our party. 

An idea suddenly flashed through my mind. 

Are not these people, I thought, the real representa- 
tives of our party ? Is not this the living picture which 
typifies in itself the character of our whole struggle ? A 
feeling of enthusiasm fired my heart. We are invincible, 
I thought, while the source is unexhausted whence 
springs so much unknown heroism, the greatest of all 
heroism; we are invincible while the party has such 
adherents. 



196 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 

i:n'troductio:n". 

Loud and repeated knocks at my door made me start 
from my bed. 

What could be the matter ? Had I been in Russia I 
should hare immediately thought that it Tvas the police. 
But I was in Switzerland ; there was no danger. 

' Qui est l^?' 1 exclaimed, in French. 

*It is 1/ replied in Russian a w^ell-known yoice. 
* Open the door at once. ' 

I lit the candle, for it was dark, and hastily dressed. 
My heart was oppressed by a sad presentiment. 

A fortnight before, a member of our party, one of 
my earliest friends, who was seriously compromised in 
the final attempts against the Emperor, after staying 
some months abroad, set out for Russia. For several 
days we had waited in yain for the news that he had 
crossed the frontier. 

A terrible suspicion, which I dared not express, 
flashed across my mind. I hastily slipped on my 
clothes. 

I opened the door. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 197 

Andrew abruptly entered the room without raising 
his hat, without shaking hands. 

* Basil is arrested/ he said, at once. 

Basil was also his friend as well as mine. His broken 
Toice betrayed his grief. 

I looked at him for a few moments with fixed staring 
eyes, as though not understanding what he had said. 
Then I inwardly repeated the three terrible words, 
'Basil is arrested,' at first faintly, mechanically, like 
an echo, then with terrible distinctness, tearfully, and 
with a feeling of indescribable horror. 

Then all became silent. 

Something cold, horrible, awful, appeared to have 
surrounded me, to have invaded the whole room, the 
entire space, and to have penetrated to the very depths 
of my being, freezing my blood and numbing my 
thoughts. This something was the shadow of death. 

There was no time to lose, however, in idle despair. 
The first thing was to ascertain if all was really lost, or 
if something could yet be done. 

I asked for the particulars. 

He had been arrested on the frontier, and the worst 
of it was that this had taken place four days back, the 
contrabandist, instead of informing us by a telegram, 
having from economy sent a letter. 

' Where is the letter ? ' 

'John has got it ; he has only just arrived. He is 
waiting for you at my house. I have come for you.' 

We left the house. 



198 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

The dawn wavS just breaking, and "illuminating the 
deserted streets with a pallid light. We proceeded in 
silence, with bent heads, plunged in mournful thoughts. 

John was awaiting me. We were friends ; we had 
not seen each other for some time. But sad indeed was 
our meeting. No friendly word, no question, no smile 
was exchanged. Silent and serious, we shook hands. 
Thus people greet each other in the house of death. 

He read again the letter of the contrabandist. 
Basil had been arrested on the Prussian frontier, near 
Vergbolovo, and thrown into the prison of that town. 
What had happened since was not known, as the terri- 
fied contrabandist had immediately recrossed the fron- 
tier. His subsequent information was very contradic- 
tory ; at first it seemed as though Basil had been taken 
as a mere recruit infringing the regulations ; afterwards, 
however, the rumour ran that the gendarmes were 
mixed up in the matter, which indicated that it had a 
political character. 

As to the arrest itself, one thing was clear enough, 
the contrabandist was in no way to blame. He cleared 
himself, and, after having -expressed his regret, asked 
for the money due to him. The arrest was the result 
of Basil's own carelessness. Shut up in a garret all 
day, he wearied of the confinement, and went out for 
a walk. It was a childish act of unpardonable negli- 
gence. 

Our grief having need of some outlet, found vent in 
anger. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBUEa. 199 

'"What a stupid fellow/ I exclaimed, wringing my 
hands, ' to run risks at such a moment ! To allow him- 
self to be seen in a little frontier village, where everyone 
is closely watched ; at thirty to be such a child ! To be 
taken upon the frontier which everybody, without ex- 
ception, passes quietly. It seems almost as though he 
had done it on purpose ! Well,' I added, grinding my 
teeth, 'he will get what he ' 

I meant 'what he might expect,' but the words stuck 
in my throat. I drew a horrible picture. A scaffold, 
a beam, a noose, and within it 

I turned aside ; I had to bite my lips till the blood 
came to prevent myself from bursting into tears. 

I continued for a time to pace the narrow room, in. 
my agitation. 

Andrew, crushed by his grief as though by an enor- 
mous weight, was seated near the table, supporting almost 
all his body upon his elbow, seemingly prostrated. His 
commanding form lit up by the dull and dying light of 
the candle, seemed as though utterly broken down. 
Suddenly I stopped before him. 

* And now what is to be jdone ? ' Andrew asked me. 

This was exactly what I wished to ask him. 

I abruptly turned away and resumed my walk, vio- 
lently pressing my hand against my forehead, as though 
to force out some idea. 

' What is to be done ? ' I repeated to myself. ' That's 
the point. What is to be done in such a desperate posi- 
tion ? Including John's journey, five days have passed 



200 REVOLUTIONABY SKETCHES. 

since the arrest of Basil. To reach the frontier and 
cross it would take five more days. In ten days the 
gendarmes will have had a hundred opportunities of 
recognising the man they have in their hands, and of 
sending him, under a strong escort, to St. Petershurg. 
The case is desperate. But perhaps they will still keep 
him at Vergbolovo, or in some prison of one of the 
neighbouring towns. He has fallen into their Hands in 
such a blundering manner, that they will perhaps think 
he is someone of no importance. But no, it is impossi- 
ble. We have had our secret information that the 
gendarmes expected someone from abroad. The case is 
desperate. Something, however, must be done.' 

MVe must send Eina,' I said, with a faint smile. 
^If anything can yet be done, she will do it.' 

' Yes, yes, we must send Eina ! ' Andrew exclaimed, 
and a gleam of hope seemed to reanimate his pale face. 

'Yes, yes; Eina,' assented John, eagerly, ^if there is 
anything to be done, she will do it.' 

Eina was a Pole, the daughter of one of the many 
martyrs of her noble country, born in a little town 
near the frontier, the principal, almost the sole, industry 
of which consists in smuggling. Having gone to St. 
Petersburg to study, she was fired by the Socialist ideas, 
and in the Eevolutionary movement of the early years 
of the last decade, occupied a special post; that of 
'holding the frontier,' that is, of organising the com- 
munications between Eussia and foreign countries. 



A TEIP TO ST. PETERSBURa. 201 

where in those days so many Revolutionary books were 
published. 

Her origin and a certain practical instinct, so com- 
mon among Polish women, united with an acuteness 
and a cunning peculiar to her, rendered her not only 
very apt in dealing with the contrabandists, but made 
her really popular among them. She used jokingly to 
say that she could do more on the frontier than the 
Governor; and she spoke the truth, for every one is 
venal there, beginning with the soldiers and the Custom 
House officials, and ending with the very magistrates 
of the towns. The only thing is to know how to deal 
with them. 

The propagandist period having passed, and the san- 
guinary days of the Terrorism having succeeded, Rina 
no longer took any part in the movement, as she did 
not believe in the possibility of succeeding by these 
means. She went abroad, studied in Paris, and then 
remained in Switzerland on account of her health. 

It was to this lady's house that I went direct. 
Andrew and John would wait for me. I rang. The 
door was immediately opened, for it was now daylight, 
and people rise early in Switzerland. 

'My mistress is asleep,' the servant said. 

'Yes, I know it, but a relation has arrived whom 

she will like to see at once,' I replied in conformity 

with the Russian habit of always concealing everything 

relating to the Revolution. 

I went to Rina's door, and loudly knocking, I said 
9* 



202 REVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

in Eussian, ^I want to speak to you immediately; come 
at once.' 

' Directly, directly,' replied the somewhat troubled 
Yoice of Rina. 

Fiye minutes afterwards the door opened and she 
appeared, with her fine long raven tresses somewhat in 
disorder. 

'What is the matter?' she asked directly she had 
entered the room, timidly fixing upon me her large 
blue eyes. 

I told her in two words what had happened. 

Notwithstanding her dark complexion, I could see 
that she turned pale at the fatal news. 

Without answering a word, she bent her head, and 
her entire girlish figure expressed indescribable grief. 

I would not disturb her in her thoughts. I waited 
for her to speak. 

' If we had only known of it in time,' she said at 
last, deliberately, as though speaking to herself, 'all 
might perhaps have been made right, but now .' 

' Who knows ? ' I replied. ' Perhaps they are still 
keeping him on the frontier. ' 

She shook her head doubtingly, without replying. 

'In any case,' I said, 'we must tj-y. I came ex- 
pressly to ask you to go there.' 

Rina remained silent and motionless, as though she 
had not heard, or were not concerned. She did not 
even raise her long eyelashes which concealed her eyes, 
and her look was fixed upon the floor. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBUEG. 203 

' Oh ! as far as I am concerned, not a word need be 
said,' she at last lightly replied ; ' but ' 

She roused herself, and began to discuss the matter 
in a practical manner. 

It was anything but reassuring, I could not but 
admit. But she argued that an attempt must be made. 
In five minutes the matter was arranged. 

An hour afterwards Rina, with a few hundred francs, 
hastily collected among our friends, was flying by ex- 
press train towards the Russian frontier, bearing with 
her all our hopes. 

The attempt failed, as Rina had clearly foreseen. 
On reaching the frontier, she lost a couple of days in 
yainly searching for our contrabandist, in order to obtain 
exact information from him. He kept in concealment, 
protracted matters, and at last escaped to America, 
taking with him the money, which meanwhile we had 
sent him by telegraph, for the eventual expenses. 

On learning of his flight, Rina crossed the frontier, 
almost unaided, exposing herself to very serious danger, 
so as not to lose a moment's time. But Basil had 
already, for some little time, been sent away from 
the frontier. Having been recognised, he had been 
transferred to one of the chief towns and then to St. 
Petersburg. 

Rina went there. It was not so much for the pur- 
pose of attempting to do anything more, but from a 
mere desire to visit the city, and see her old friends, as 
she was so near them. 



204 KEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

She readied St. Petersburg about a week before 
March 13, and remained a fortnight more in tlie infer- 
nal caldron which St. Petersburg became after Alex- 
ander II. had been put to death. She set out towards 
the end of the month for one of the provinces in the 
interior of Eussia, where she still remains. 

Haying undertaken to write these sketches, I thought 
that it would not be without interest to add to them 
her reminiscences of those terrible days. I therefore 
wrote a letter to her on the subject. 

She consented, merely urging her non -participation 
in the moyement, and her inexperience in writing. 
'But/ she added, 'I will tell you everything I saw, 
just as it was. It will be for you to select what you re- 
quire,' 

Having read her letters, I found them extremely 
interesting, in almost every respect. The fact that they 
were written by a person not belonging to the militant 
party, increases their value, in my opinion, by giving 
them a character of impartiality. 

With regard to the literary part, I have done noth- 
ing more than put these letters into shape, for, with the 
additions and explanations which I asked for, there 
were a good many of them. I had to make, it is true, 
some little amplification, but without importance, some 
fifty lines in all, which it would be mere pedantry 
to give as notes. They are confined to the accessory 
figures, and to certain things which would not be un- 
derstood by a foreigner. I have sought to preserve the 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 205 

words of the authoress herself eyen in her general con- 
siderations (Part v., respecting the Russian youth), 
so as not to spoil this document, interesting, in my 
opinion, precisely because of its genuine character. 

As to the scenes connected with our great martyrs, 
I have not taken the liberty of changing one single 
word, for it would haye been a sacrilege. She com- 
mences thus : 

I. 

On reaching St. Petersburg, I went in search of 
my fellow countrywoman, and old friend, Madame 
Dubroyina. I knew that, although she took no part 
in the movement, she held, so to speak, a revolution- 
ary salon, and would therefore be able to give me all 
necessary information. I was welcomed with open 
arms. She told me that some of the Terrorists came, 
in fact, from time to time to her salon. She could give 
me no information, however, respecting Betty, the wife 
of poor Basil, whom I desired, above all, to see. 

Not having been for several years in St. Petersburg, 
I fancied that, in these later days, the life of a Nihilist 
must be a terrible one. 

Madame Dubrovina assured me, indeed, that after 
every fresh attempt, for some little time, in fact, it 
was rather hot work ; when the storm had passed, 
however, it was all right again. Now, she added, we 
are in a dead calm. 

I had no passport, and this caused me much anxiety. 



206 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

Madame Dubrovina, however, assured me that I had 
nothing to fear, and that I should get on very well with- 
out one. 

Meanwhile Betty must be found. It was a very 
arduous task, for the Nihilists, keeping especially secret 
their places of residence, are generally very difficult to 
find. I was told that a certain D., in order to find a 
friend residing, like himself, in St. Petersburg, had to 
journey to Kieff, two days distant by railway, to learn 
his address, and then return to St. Petersburg. 

I had to make interminable journeys throughout 
the city, to call upon one person and another, presumed 
to be capable of furnishing some information to enable 
me to find Bett}^ But nothing came of them. 

Two days passed thus. I scarcely knew what to 
do. Madame Dubrovina, however, who was evidently 
thoroughly acquainted with the world in which she 
lived, advised me not to trouble about it, and to trust 
to Fate. 

In the Nihilist world, news, however slight may be 
its interest, spreads with marvellous rapidity. She 
thouglit that the news of the arrival of a lady from 
Switzerland would soon get about, and that Betty, hear- 
ing it, would divine that I was the lady and send some- 
body to fetch me. 

This in fact happened. 

On the third day we were pleasantly chatting with 
Madame Dubrovina and some of her friends, when 
Bonzo entered, the same Bonzo who, owing to his fond- 



A TKIP TO ST. PETEKSBURG. 207 

ness for experiments, was four times within an ace of 
killing himself with different poisons, and said to me in 
a mysterious manner : 

' May I have the pleasure of taking your arm ? ' 

He said this with so much solemnity that we all of 
us burst into a loud laugh. He, on the other hand, 
impassible and serious, buttoned his gloves. His tall 
and meagre form was as upright as a pole. I sprang 
up, amid the general merriment, and took him by the 
arm, showing how I should play the fine lady in the 
street. 

Bonzo, as serious as ever, with his bald head thrown 
back, his bronzed forehead without eyebrows, and his 
skinny face, looked something between the Knight of 
the Rueful Countenance and an Indian idol. 

There was no need for him to tell me, when we left, 
where he was taking me. I knew he was a friend of 
Betty and of Basil, who admired him for his determina- 
tion while ridiculing his excessive fondness for precau- 
tions. Having walked some two hundred yards, arm in 
arm, as if on show, Bonzo took a cab for Pesk}^, as it 
was a long way off. The horse went slowly. The jour- 
ney seemed interminable. 

' Oh, how far it is !' I said to my companion. 

^•At present we are going away from it,' he said. 

I rebelled against such a profusion of precautions, 
declaring that I wanted to go to Betty's direct ; but 
Bonzo was inexorable. 

On reaching Pesky, Bonzo took a second cab for 



208 REVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

the Polytechnic, after walking another two hundred 
yards. 

"We had scarcely alighted from the vehicle when it 
was taken by an officer. This filled my companion with 
apprehensions. Upon the pavement were two little 
mendicants, a girl and a boy of eight or ten. I stopped 
before them, they were so handsome. 

' Give ns a kopeck, lady ? ' exclaimed the children, 
holding out their hands. 

I said a few words to them, and gave a kopeck to 
each. 

^ What a thing to do,' said Bonzo to me in a troubled 
voice, when we had passed on. ^ Don't you know that 
they are little spies ? The police have plenty of these 
sham beggars and send them about to watch people.' 

I smiled at Bonzo's extreme shrewdness, and we con- 
tinued our wanderings, which lasted at least an hour. 
When we reached the house where Betty was awaiting 
me, the gas was being lighted in the streets. 

The aspect of the poor lady was most painful. I 
had some difficulty in recognising her, she was so thin, 
pale and prostrated. 

The room in which we conversed began by degrees 
to fill with people. Many came with the plaid and 
blouse of the students. A few minutes afterwards, the 
mistress of the house came in, a young and handsome 
brunette, and taking Betty aside, told her the room was 
engaged that evening for a meeting of students.^ 
^ See the chapter upon Demetrius Lisogub. 



A TEIP TO ST. PETERSBUKG. 201 

She invited us to attend it, but we were not in the 
mood. I could not, however, but express my astonish- 
ment and pleasure that, after so many attempts, there 
should be so much freedom of action in St. Petersburg. 

^Tes,' replied Betty, ^and it is a bad sign. But, as 
everyone knows,' she added, citing a Russian proverb, 
^ Until the thunderbolt falls, the peasant never crosses 
himself.' 

It was suggested that we should descend to a lower 
floor where there were other rooms at our disposal. 

We spent the rest of the evening there, talking 
upon our business. I related to her all my adventures 
upon the frontier ; the flight of the contrabandist, the 
removal of Basil ; everything. She told me what, 
meanwhile, she had done in St. Petersburg. It 
amounted to very little. I regarded the matter as 
utterly hopeless. Betty would not give in ; she still 
hoped. 

II. 

On the following day I saw for the first time Jessy 
Helfman at Madame Dubrovina's. 

What struck me in her face was an expression of in- 
describable suffering around her mouth, and in her eyes. 
But no sooner was I presented to her than she began to 
talk with animation upon 'business,' upon the pro- 
grammes of the various sections, upon the Red Cross, 
&c. 

I saw her many times afterwards, and she gave me 
the impression of being one of the most sincere, simple. 



^i.0 BEVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

and modest of women, and devoted beyond all expression 
to the cause ; without, however, possessing any power of 
initiative. 

Her husband, Kolotkevie,^ had been arrested some 
days before my arrival. Notwithstanding the over- 
whelming sadness which oppressed her heart, and re- 
vealed itself in spite of her, in her fyes, her face, and 
her voice, she was always occupied with the business of 
the party, and of all those who wished to entrust some 
commission to her. Madame Dubrovina, and everyone 
who knew her, said her kindness was beyond all com- 
parison. 

She seemed to have no time to devote to her own 
affairs and her own grief, or to be ashamed to do so. 

I recollect that one day she handed a note to Madame 
Dubrovina to be taken to Skripaceva, who was in regular 
communication with the gendarme who secretly trans- 
mitted letters to the political prisoners confined in the 
fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. What grief revealed 
itself in her voice, which she vainly endeavoured to con- 
trol, when she begged Madame Dubrovina to forward 
this little note to her husband, who was also detained in 
the fortress ! 

Unfortunately the communications with the fortress 
being broken off, her note could not be transmitted, 
and I saw that Madame Dubrovina gave it back to 
her. 

Jessy Helfman often came to Madame Dubrovina's, 

* Condemned to death in the trial of the 22 (April, 1882.) 



A TKIP TO ST. PETERSBUEG. 211 

and everybody in the house liked her, even the old 
grandmother. 

I noticed that she was very timid. Whenever they 
invited her to dine, or to eat something, she invariably 
refused. Very rarely would she take a cup of tea, al- 
though I knew that she was often very hungry, for, 
engaged as she was, she frequently had no time to return 
home, and take some food. 

In my long peregrinations subsequently in search of 
my night's lodging, I had to visit very many houses. 
Jessy Helfman was known everywhere, and the young 
spoke of. her with great respect. The students had 
much affection and esteem for her, and were always 
pleased when Jessy paid them a visit. She was always 
thoroughly acquainted with everything new in the 
Eevolutionary world, so interesting to society at large, 
and especially to the young. Her pockets and her large 
leather reticule from which she was never separated, 
were always full of proclamations of the Committee, of 
copies of the 'Narodnaia Volia,' of tickets for lotteries, 
concerts, balls, and dramatic performances for the 
benefit of the exiles, or the prisoners, or the Secret 
Press. She knew no end of addresses, and could 
arrange an appointment with any of the principal 
Terrorists. 

It was she who brought me one day a message from 
Sophia Perovskaia, whom I had known some years 
before. She said that Sophia would have come to see 
me had she not been ill. 



212 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

III. 

Some days afterwards, I saw So]3hia Perovskaia at 
Olenin's, an old friend of mine employed in an office. 
White as a sheet, she could scarcely drag one foot before 
the other, and no sooner had she entered the room than 
she reclined on the sofa. 

She came to receive the monthly collection made by 
Olenin ; a yery small snm, a hundred roubles or so. 
Unfortunately the money had not yet been paid in. I 
had in my pocket a hundred roubles not belonging to 
me, which I had been asked to hand over to a person 
about to arrive in St. Petersburg. I offered to lend 
them to her for a couple of days ; her aspect was so 
painful, and I thought that, except for some very urgent 
need, nobody would ask for the money at such a late 
hour (it was already eleven o'clock) and m her state of 
health. But Sophia Perovskaia did not accept my offer, 
saying that she w^as not sure she would be able to return 
the money to me in such a short time. Meanwhile she 
told us that she had spent her last farthing, having been 
followed by a spy, and compelled to change her cab 
several times in order to escape. She added that she 
was not even sure she had succeeded, and that at any 
moment the police might come to Olenin's to arrest her. 
It was essential that Sophia should leave as quickly as 
possible. "We emptied our purses into hers. As to 
Olenin, who was an old fox, his residence was always 
perfectly ^ clean,' that is, had nothing compromis- 
ing about it. But I had in my pocket a number of 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEKSBUKG. 213 

copies of the ' !N"arodnaia Volia.' Rather than let them 
be burnt Sophia took them with her, saying that if she 
were arrested with such things about her, it would not 
make any difference as far as she was concerned. 

She left hastily ; but before going said she should 
like to make an appointment with me for the next day 
if she were still ^ alive/ that is to say, at large. TTe 
fixed the place and the hour. But she did not come, 
and I was terribly afraid she had been arrested. On 
the following day Jessy pacified me. Sophia was at 
large, but could not leave the house, being seriously 
ill. 

All this took place two or three days before March 
13. As I learned afterwards, on the day before our 
meeting at Olenin^s, Geliaboff was arrested. 

On the morning of the 13th, it was a Sunday, I went 
to a friend's at Gatschina, which in those days was not 
what it is now, but one of the quietest little places in all 
Russia. 

We heard rumours of the event from Kadia's servant 
on Monday morning. 

The parish priest came about one o'clock and related 
that he had heard something about it from the country 
people, who had arrived from St. Petersburg ; but no 
official news reached us. In the evening, however, 
Kadia's elder sister arrived with the newspapers. 

What hours we passed I need not relate. Nadia was 
taken ill. 

Then came terrible days. Days of torment, of sus- 



214 EEYOLUnONAEY SKETCHES. 

picion, of horror. The end of the world seemed to haVe 
arrived. Every fresh newspaper brought news of fresh 
rigours against the Nihilists, and of fresh discoveries 
made by the police. Then came the terrible Telegnaia 
incident, the suicide of a person unknown. Then came 
arrest after arrest, singly and in scores. 

How enter this hell upon earth ? How remain out 
of it ? 

At last I could endure it no longer, and resolved to 
go to St. Petersburg. 

It was on the Thursday. 

The city, in mourning throughout, oppressed the 
mind. The lamps, the houses, the balconies, the win- 
dows, all were covered with mournful stripes of black 
and white. 

I went direct to Madame Dubrovina's. The whole 
family was staying in-doors. Upon every face, a panic 
fear was depicted. Madame Dubrovina received me 
with exclamations of terror. The aspect of the others 
was not more reassuring. 

' What ill wind has brought you here ? Why have 
you come into this horrible place ? Do you not know 
that I myself am being watched by the police ? Where 
on earth do you think I can conceal you at such a 
moment ? ' 

All this Madame Dubrovina said to me with an 
agitated voice, pacing the room, and occasionally stop- 
ping in front of me. 

* Why had I not remained at Gatschina ? Why had 



A TKIP TO ST. PETEKSBUKG. 215 

I come into this horrible place ? What a nice predica- 
ment I was in ! ' I thought to myself. 

A few days afterwards my dear friend made it up 
with me, and it was to her I was indebted for at least a 
fourth of ray nights' lodgings, for which I shall be 
grateful to her as long as I liye. But just then she was 
inexorable. Her irritation against me reached its height 
when an unknown lady, yery well dressed, suddenly en- 
tered the room, and said she wished to speak to Madame 
Dubrovina in private. 

On the instant everyone was dumb. We were per- 
plexed and alarmed, for the younger sister of Madame 
Dubrovina had disappeared for some few hours. No 
one knew where she was. We immediately thought 
some disaster had happened. 

In a short time, however, Madame Dubrovina re- 
turned, and taking me aside, said the lady had come in 
search of nie from Sophia Perovskaia. 

I could have leaped for joy at hearing these words. 
She was 'alive,' and evidently wanted to go abroad. 
The idea never occurred to me that she could need me 
for any other purpose than that of passing the frontier, 
which was my special office. 

Pilled with these pleasant thoughts I entered the 
room where Sophia awaited me. She advanced to meet 
me. I began by expressing to her my extreme pleasure 
at her determination to go abroad. 

She stared as though she had heard something 
utterly incomprehensible. 



216 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

Seeing my error, I implored her to quit the capital, 
where such close search was being made for her. I had 
not then the faintest shadow of suspicion respecting her 
participation in the event of March 13, and only learnt 
it from the newspapers. But the part she had taken in 
the Moscow attempt, already revealed by Goldenberg, 
and. related in the newspapers, was, in my opinion, a 
reason more than sufficient for withdrawing from St. 
Petersburg at such a time. 

But she met all my urgent appeals with a persistent 
refusal. 

>Itis impossible,' she said, *to quit the capital at 
such an important moment. There is so much to do, so 
m^ny people to see.' 

/ She. was enthusiastically excited by the terrible vic- 
tory obtained by the party. She believed in the future, 
ai]id saw everything in a rose-coloured light. 

She resolutely cut short my entreaties, and explained 
why she had sent for me. 

She wanted to know something about the trial of 
the Ozaricides. The idea was to go to a very great per- 
sonage, an ' Excellency,' a man connected with the 
Superior Police, who undoubtedly would be able to give 
us some information respecting the trial, although the 
investigations were being carried on with the utmost 
secrecy. This man was not in regular communication 
with the Nihilists. It so happened that I had known 
him personally for some years. That was why Perov- 
skaia had thought of me. She was very anxious about 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBUEG. 217 

it. The man she loved was among the accased. Al- 
though terribly compromised, it so happened that he 
had taken no direct part in the event of March 13 ; and 
Sophia hoped. . . . 

I told her I would willingly go, not only to ^His 
Excellency,' but, if she thought it desirable, to my 
' gendarme ' also, with whom some years previously, I 
had been in communication for the correspondence of 
the political prisoners. 

To this, Sophia, however, would not agree, saying 
that my ^gendarme' had broken off all connection with 
the Nihilists, and would infallibly hand me over to the 
police, and, if afraid of my revelations, would send a 
swarm of spies after me. In any case he would tell us 
nothing, and perhaps would know nothing. With ' His 
Excellency,' on the other hand, there was nothing to 
fear, as he was personally incapable of any baseness, and 
at heart sympathised, up to a certain point, with the 
Nihilists. 

It was arranged that at ten o'clock the next morniug 
I should go to ' His Excellency.' Sophia wished to have 
a reply as soon as possible, but contrive as she might, 
she could not make an appointment with me before six 
o'clock in the evening. Being unable to repress my 
astonishment at this, she explained to me the distribu- 
tion of her time ; she had seven appointments for the 
next day, and all in different parts of the city. Our 
conversation having ended, Sophia called a young man, 

who was a member of the family in whose house we had 
10 



218 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

our appointment, and sent him to the adresni stol (the 
address bureau) to get the address of my * Excellency.' 
A young lady, a friend of the family, was sent by Sophia 
PeroYskaia to find me a night's lodging, as I told her I 
was in want of one. 

Meanwhile we remained alone, and I began to implore 
her anew to get out of the country. I proposed to her, 
if she thought it impossible to quit Russia for some time, 
merely to take her to some little frontier town, where we 
could spend two or three weeks together. She would 
not hear of it, and ridiculed my weakness, but in a good- 
natured manner. 

Then she changed the subject. She told me who 
was the young man killed by the explosion of the bomb 
thrown at the feet of the Emperor. She told me that 
the man who had committed suicide upon the Telegnaia 
was Nicholas Sablin, whom I had known some years 
previously. This news made me shudder. 

When the young lady returned who had been sent to 
find me a night's lodging, we parted. Sophia asked me 
if I wanted any money to enable me to be elegantly 
dressed when presenting myself to ^His Excellency.' 
This time her pockets were full of money, but I said I 
was in no need of any, as I had a dress with me that 
was quite good enough. The following day I called upon 
'His Excellency,' who received me much more politely 
than I expected, and gave me all the necessary informa- 
tion very fully. It was sad news indeed ! The fate of 
Geliaboff, as of all the others, was irrevocably fixed. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBURG. 219 

The trial was to be merely ^ro forma for appearance 
sake. 

Towards six o'clock I went with this news to keep 
my appointment. Sophia PeroYskaia did not come 
until nine. When I saw her enter I gaye a deep sigh of 
relief. We both had anything but an inviting appear- 
ance ; in my case, because of the torture caused by the 
delay ; in hers because, as she said, she was yery tired, 
or perhaps from some other cause. They brought us 
the samovar and left us to ourselves. 

I communicated to her at once the information I 
had received. I did not see her face, for her eyes were 
cast down. When she raised them I saw that she was 
trembling all over. Then she grasped my hands, sank 
down, and buried her face in my lap. She remained 
thus for several minutes ; she did not weep, but trembled 
all over. Then she arose and sat down, endeavouring 
to compose herself. But with a sudden movement she 
again grasped my hands, and pressed them so hard as to 
hurt me. 

I remember that I proposed to her to go to Odessa 
and fetch some of Geliaboff's relatives for the visits. 
But she replied that she did not know their exact ad- 
dress ; and that, moreover, it was too late to arrive 
before the trial. 

' His Excellency ' was astonished that Geliaboff had 
declared that he was the organiser of the attempt. 

When I told this to Perovskaia, she replied in these 
words : 



220- REVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

^ It could not be otherwise. The trial of Eisakoff 
alone would have been too colourless.' 

'His Excellency ' had communicated to me many 
particulars respecting the proud and noble bearing of 
GeliabofP. 

When I related them to Sophia, I observed that her 
eyes flashed and the colour returned to her cheeks. 
Evidently it was a great relief to her. 

' His Excellency ' also told me that all the accused 
already knew the fate awaiting them, and had received 
the announcement of their approaching death with 
wonderful tranquillity and composure. 

On hearing this, Sophia sighed. She suffered im- 
mensely. She wanted to w^eep, but restrained herself. 
For a moment, however, her e3"es were filled with tears. 

At that time persistent rumours were in circulation 
throughout the city, that Eisakoff had made some dis- 
closure. But ' His Excellency ' denied this, I do not 
know why. I remember that I referred to this denial, 
drawing the conclusion from it that perhaps even 'His 
Excellency ' did not know everything. I simply wished 
to tranquillise her in any way ; but she replied : 

' No, I am persuaded it is quite true. On this point, 
also, he must be right. I know Eisakoff, and believe 
he will say nothing ; nor Micailoff either.' 

She then told me who this Micailoff was, there 
being so many other men of this name among the 
Terrorists, and begged me to communicate to a friend of 
mine what one of them had disclosed respecting him. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBURG. 221 

We remained together almost until midnight. She 
wished to leave first, hut was so worn out that she could 
scarcely stand. This time she spoke little, her voice 
being faint, and her words brief. 

Sophia promised to come to the same house on the 
following day between two and three o'clock in the 
afternoon. I arrived at half-past two, but she had pre- 
ceded me, and had not had time to wait for me. Thus 
I never saw her again. 

Two days afterwards she was arrested. 

IV. 

My days became very melancholy. My equivocal 
position, neither HegaP nor ^ illegal,' caused me infinite 
anxiety. Being absolutely unconnected with the move- 
ment, I did not care to take a false passport. 

Being without a passport I had, however, to go 
continually in search of places of concealment, and of 
my night's lodging ; to find them, owing to my strange 
position, was extremely difficult. 

I could not avail myself of the places of conceal- 
ment which the Terrorists have, especially as in those 
unhappy days they themselves had urgent need of them. 
I had to act for myself. To whom could I turn ? My 
personal friends, who alone did anything for me, were, 
like Madame Dubrovina, ^suspected persons.' Only 
very rarely could I go to them. 

Whether I liked it or not, I had to appeal, as it 
were, to the public charity. 



222 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

I thus had ojDportunities of becoming acquainted, 
partly at least, with the middle class, which may be 
called neutral; because it either does not wish to take 
any part in the struggle, or, while sympathising to the 
utmost with the Eevolutionaries, has not yet taken a 
direct part in the movement. I speak of the peaceful 
middle class, which thinks only of its own selfish com- 
forts ; and of the young engaged in study. 

Of these two classes only can I speak. 

With regard to the former I shall be yery brief; the 
subject is too sickening. I have remarked this in Eussia, 
those quake most who have the least reason to quake. ^ 

^ In cormection with this very just observation, I will relate an 
incident in my own experience. A certain P., a man of about forty, 
the proprietor of a commercial establishment, a gentleman, and if 
I recollect aright, a member of some administrative council, a man, 
in fact, in an excellent social position, wished one day to give a 
pecuniary donation to the Terrorists. But as he was very suspicious, 
he could not resolve to send it through a third person, and wished 
to place it in the hands of some member of the party. After much 
hesitation, he at last decided to speak to a certain N., who was an 
intimate friend of twenty years' standing. The latter highly praised 
his intention, and told him he could easily arrange an appointment 
with me, because we were excellent friends with this N. The sum 
was not very large, but was not to be despised ; about five hundred 
roubles. The day and the hour being fixed, I went with N. to P.'s 
house. He had one of his own. P. had had the precaution to send 
away the dvornik, and his own servant. As the family were at 
some watering place abroad, he was quite alone in the house. 
Directly we rang the bell, he hastily descended the stairs with a 
candle in his hand (it was already late) ; but no sooner had he 
caught sight of us than he blew out the candle. We ascended the 
staircase in profound darkness ; it was a precaution. We entered 
the most secluded room on the second floor of the perfectly empty 



A TKIP TO ST. PETEBSBTJEG. 223 

I will relate only a single incident. 
I learnt on one occasion by chance that one of my 
earliest and most intimate friends, Emilia — we had been 

house ; the candle was lit again. The business commenced, and 
was carried on in a very strange manner. P. would on no account 
address himself to me directly, for he repeated, ' I have seen 
nobody, nobody but Mr. N. has been in my house.' He continued 
thus to address himself to this latter, as if I were not present ; I 
replied in the same manner. When, after some preliminaries, the 
question of the money was introduced, P. made me stare by a very 
strange request, still in the third person, that 1 should sign for 
him, in my own name, be it understood, a bill of exchange for the 
sum which he gave me. * I ayr> quite ready to comply with the re- 
quest of the worthy Mr. P. , ' I said, addressing myself to K. , ' but 
would you mind asking him the object of this transaction, which I 
am quite unable to guess,' and thereupon Mr. P. began to explain 
to N. that the object he had in view was this : if the police heard 
of his offence and came to search his office and examine his books, 
they would find an inexplicable deficiency in his cash account. 
That was why he wished to have a bill of exchange from me. 
Having heard this explanation, I declared myself perfectly satis- 
fied. But N". dissuaded the ingenious donor, observing to him that 
my writing might be known to the police, and that therefore it 
would be much better to sign the bill himself. I do not know 
whether P. did so or not. The business question being settled, P. 
so far took heart as to address himself directly to me. Among 
other things, I recollect he said he did not believe in the possibility 
of a revolution in Russia, because * the Russians are very timid. I 
know it well,' he added, 'for I am a Russian myself.' But he ad- 
mired the courage of the Revolutionists, and had consequently 
resolved, 'after having long thought about it,' to present them 
with this donation. He told me that he obtained our proclamations 
occasionally, but always read them in a certain private part of the 
house, a bit at a time, so as not to awaken the suspicions of his 
servant. He kept them hung up in the air by a thin thread, fas- 
tened in such a manner, that if anyone meddled with them, with- 
out taking certain precautions, the thread would snap, and the 
dangerous collection would fall where, he hoped, the police would 



224 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

more than sisters together for many years — had come to 
St. Petersburg. I wished to see her immediately ; but 
as she had just arriyed, her address could not be found 
in the adresni stol and I was obliged to have recourse to 
Professor Boiko, also from my part of the country, who 
was a friend of the family. 

I sj^ent half a day in this search, in a state of almost 
feverish excitement. 

Boiko advised me not to go and see her, saying that 
Emilia, being from my part of the country, knew I was 
a * refugee,' and that therefore, my arrival would terrify 
her not a little. But I paid no attention to him, so 
great was my confidence in Emilia. 

At last, in company with Boiko, I arrived at the 
wished-f or door. I asked the door-keeper if they were in. 

He said ^ Yes ' and I flew up the stairs with my heart 
full of delight, slowly followed by Boiko. 

It was Sunday. The servants had probably gone 
out, and therefore Emilia opened the door herself. 

The scene which followed passes my powers of de- 
scription. 

not make any search. ' What do you think of that ? ' he added, 
turning to me. I was somewhat mortified by the slight respect he 
showed for our proclamations, but I admired his stratagem not- 
withstanding. I forgot to mention that during the whole of my 
visit, P. started from his seat every five minutes, and ran to the 
door to see if there was anybody concealed there, although there 
was not a soul in the house and the lower door was shut. This 
entire scene, which I recommend to the attention of our great 
satirist Scedrin, is thoroughly authentic. N. could testify to this, 
and I have not added a line. 



*A TRIP TO SI. PETEESBURG. 225 

At sight of me she began to tremble in every limb. 
I advanced towards her, and she fell back. Some 
minutes passed before I was able to embrace her retreat- 
ing form, and cover her pale face with kisses. 

When at last we entered the sitting-room from the 
antechamber, this was the picture that presented itself 
before me. Emilia's husband and her brother, the lat- 
ter also a friend of my childhood, were seated at a table 
playing cards. 

They did not move; they did not offer me the 
slightest greeting ; they remained as though petrified. 

The silence, embarrassing and oppressive beyond 
measure, lasted some little time. 

* Do not interrupt the game/ I said at last to relieve 
Emilia in this embarrassment. 

She tried to smile, but her smile resembled a gri- 
mace. I began to speak of myself. I said I had taken 
not the slightest part in what had happened during the 
previous years, that I was almost ^ legal,' that if this 
fatal time had not come I should have endeavoured to 
obtain a fresh passport ; in a word, that she ran not the 
slightest risk in receiving me, for otherwise I should 
not have come. 

Emilia knew thoroughly well that I was incapable of 
telling an untruth. 

I thought my words would have tranquillised her. 

But they produced no impression. It was one of those 

instinctive panic fears which are uncontrollable, and 

against which no reasoning avails. 
10* 



226 KEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

Emilia, still as pale as death, stammered out that 
she was terrified to see me at such a time. 

At last the two gentlemen arose, and advanced to 
shake my hand. The paralysis which had seized them 
seemed to have lost something of its acute character. 

I remained at Emilia's about twenty minutes, chat- 
ting on yarious subjects, so as to saye my hosts from 
the necessity of opening their mouths. 

When I took leaye, Emilia showed me to the door, 
muttering by way of apology, ' I was so terrified.' 

Directly we started, Boiko began to laugh at me. 

* Well, did I not adyise you not to go ? With your 
'^ Quick, quick," ' and he laughingly imitated my yoice. 
I replied, but not without annoyance, that it was no 
matter, that I was yery glad I had gone to see her, &c. 

Meanwhile, a yery urgent question presented itself, 
that of my night's lodging. 

It was already too late to find one, for it was by no 
means an easy matter. Directly I arose my first thought 
was always to find a night's lodging, and in this search 
I usually spent my entire day. 

But this time, owing to my approaching meeting 
with Emilia, I had not thought about it. 

' I shall haye to pass the night in the street,' I said. 
Boiko would not hear of it, and puzzled his brains in 
thinking where he could take me. But he could not 
think of any place. 

Being, with regard to politics, as innocent as a 
new-born babe, he had only friends just as innocent. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBUEG. 227 

and therefore excessively timid. Eack his brains as 
he might, he could not think of any place to which I 
could go. 

^ Come to my house/ he said, at last. 

I had known him as a child, and loved him as a 
brother ; but I did not like the idea of passing the night 
in his room, especially as I knew he had only one. I 
began to raise objections, and spoke of the dvornihs, the 
servant and the landlad}^ 

^ Oh, that's nothing/ he replied. ' The landlady 
will not know about it, until to-morrow morning, the 
servant also. Don't mind them. 

' Not mind them ! How do you mean ? Don't the 
dvorniks count for something .^ They will let us enter, 
and afterwards go and inform the police.' 

^Nothing of the kind,' repeated Boiko. ^ The 
dvorniks will not go and fetch the police ; they will 
merely think that ' 

I told him to be silent, as the dvorniks would think 
nothing of the kind. Meanwhile, what was to be done ? 
To pass the night in the street was not only unpleasant, 
but even dangerous, and there was nothing else left. I 
accepted. 

We passed close to the dvorniks without being 
interfered with, and they saluted us very politely, as it 
appeared to me. 

The landlady and the servant were asleep. We 
entered without being seen by them. I gave a sigh of 
relief. 



228 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

' We have succeeded in passing all the barriers/ I 
said to my host ; ' but that amounts to nothing. The 
dvornihs will go and fetch the police.' 

He declared that they would not do so, and, to 
divert me, told me that on one occasion, having to 
work till a late hour with a friend, also a professor, he 
invited him to pass the night there. ^ One day, how- 
ever,' he went on, ^the head dvornih began to abuse 
me because I harboured vagabonds without passports. 
'^ Yes," I said to him, "and not one only, but many, 
and I shall be very much obliged to you if you will 
drive them all away. " The dvornih stared. I showed 
him a swarm of black beetles. ''Here," I continued, 
''here are my vagabonds, residing here without pass- 
ports. Look what a lot there are. As to my friend, he 
is a black beetle with an authenticated and registered 
passport." The dvornik laughed, and the matter ended 
there.' 

"We should have been glad to pass the whole night 
chatting, but we were compelled to blow out the candle 
as the window looked upon the courtyard, and the light 
might have made the dvornik suspect something revo- 
lutionary was going on. 

The bed was given up to me. Boiko stretched him- 
self upon the floor ; he took off his coat and waistcoat. 
I got into bed with all my clothes on, without even 
taking ofl my cuffs and collar, and, as his pillows smelt 
of tobacco, I had even to wrap up my head in my black 
scarf. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 229 

'If the police came to-night/ I thought to myself, 
' I should not keep them waiting long.' 

V. 

I should like now to say a few words respecting the 
other section of Eussian society, which, owing to my posi- 
tion, I frequented much more ; I mean the students, not 
yet enrolled among the conspirators — for of those already 
in the ranks it would be impossible to say too much. 

Had I not the evidence of my own eyes, I should 
have difficulty in believing that in the same city, within 
so short a distance, such striking contrasts could exist 
as are presented between the peaceful middle classes 
and the Eussian young men. 

I will merely relate what I have seen and heard. 

Civil courage, in which the maturer portion of 
Eussian society is entirely wanting, is only to be found 
among the young. 

It is strange, but it is perfectly true. 

Here is a notorious fact, which for many days was in 
every mouth. 

In the Academy of Medicine, one of the students, a 
'Viscount,' as they called him, took it into his head to 
start a collection for a crown of flowers to be placed upon 
the coffin of the dead Emperor. 

This proposal was received in utter silence. The 
Viscount flung five roubles into his hat, and then went 
about from one to another, Nobody gave him even a 
kopeck. 



230 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

^ But, gentlemen/ asked the Viscount, 'what shall 
we do then ! ' 

' Attend Professor Mergeevski's lecture,' said a voice 
among the throng. 

But he would not give in, and continued to go about 
pestering everybody. At last he succeeded in finding 
somebody who put two more roubles into his hat. The 
lecture of Professor Mergeevski being over, the Viscount 
went about again and urged them to subscribe. But he 
obtained nothing more. 

' But what shall we do, then, gentlemen ? ' he cried 
in despair. 

'Attend the lecture of Professor ' I do not re- 
collect the name. 

This second lecture passed off. Then the Viscount 
resolved to put his companions in a fix. 

Throwing the money upon the table, he exclaimed : 

'What shall I do with this monev ?' 

' Give it to the prisoners,' replied a voice among the 
throng, which everybody present echoed. 

The Viscount and his companion hurried away in a 
fury. 

One of the students then arose, took the money 
which remained upon the table, and no one doubted 
that the famous seven roubles were sent to those who 
were entitled to them. 

The same day the students of the Academy collected 
fifty roubles for 'the prisoners.' 

This happened some days after the event of March 



A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBUEG. 231 

13, when the whole population was delirious with 
terror. 

In the other higher schools the conduct of the 
students was similar, but not identical ; for only those 
who were in Eussia at that time can understand what 
courage was required to act as the students of the 
Academy of Medicine acted. 

What is so striking in the life of the great mass of 
the Russian students, is the slight account taken of 
personal interests connected with their profession, their 
future, &c., and even of the pleasures which are said to 
^ grace the morning of life.' 

It would seem as though the Russian students cared 
only for intellectual interests. 

Their sympathy with the Reyolution is immense, 
universal, almost undivided. 

They give their last farthing for the 'Xarodnaia 
Volia ' and for the Red Cross ; that is, for the prisoners 
and exiles. All take an active part in the organisation 
of concerts and balls, in order to obtain, by the sale of 
tickets, some few roubles to assist the revolution. Many 
endure hunger and cold in order to give their mite to 
the ^ cause.' I have known whole Communes^ which 
lived upon nothing but bread and soup, so as to give all 
their savings to the Revolution. 

The Revolution may be said to be the principal 

^ This is the name given by the students to a kind of phalan- 
stery in which a certain number of young men share everything in 
common. 



232 EEYOLUTIONABY SKETCHES. 

and absorbing interest of these j'Oiing men, and it 
should be borne in mind that when arrests, trials, 
executions happen, they lose the privilege of continuing 
their studies. 

They meet in little parties in th«ir rooms, and there, 
around the samovar , whisper, discuss, and communicate 
to each other their views and their feelings of indigna- 
tion, of horror, and of admiration, and thus their 
revolutionary fervour increases, and is strengthened. 
That is the time to see them ; their faces become anxious 
and serious, exactly like those of elderly men. 

They grasp with avidity at everything, at every trifle 
connected with the revolutionary world. The rapidity 
with which everything new of this kind spreads through- 
out the entire city is incredible. The telegraph, which 
the Government has in its hands, cannot vie with the 
legs of the Nihilists. Somebody is arrested, perhaps. 
The very next day the melancholy news is disseminated 
throughout the whole of St. Petersburg. Somebody has 
arrived ; someone else is making disclosures ; a third, 
on the other hand, maintains an exemplary firmness 
towards the police ; all this is known immediately and 
everywhere. 

It need scarcely be added that, animated by such 
feelings, these young men are always ready to render 
every kind of service to the Eevolutionists, without giv- 
ing a thought to the danger they may run. And with 
what ardour, with what solicitude they act ! 

But I must finish. I have not the slightest preten- 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBUEG. 233 

sion to depict the young men of Russia as they are ; it 
would be a task much above my powers. 

I return, therefore, to my peregrinations. 

It was from these young men I had all my nights' 
lodgings when the worthy Madame Dubrovina and a few 
other friends could no longer conceal me in their houses. 

But here I cannot pass by in silence another circum- 
stance. 

Haying received the invitation I went, and, although 
in accordance with the rules of Nihilist hospitality, no 
questions respecting myself were ever put to me, I always 
began the same old story, that I had nothing whatever 
to do with the conspiracy, that I was not even one of the 
^illegal,' but merely a ^vagabond,' as I had no passport, 
and did not care to get a false one. I said this to tran- 
quillise my hosts, and so as not to appear in borrowed 
plumes, and even, I must confess it, in the hope that I 
should be invited another time. 

But to my great astonishment, my words never pro- 
duced the desired effect. Notwithstanding that I am 
short-sighted, I could discern upon their faces a slight 
expression of disappointment, which seemed to say : 
'What ! nothing more ?' 

And they never invited me to return a second time. 
At first this vexed me, but afterwards I laughed at it, 
and became accustomed to my lot, that of passing the 
whole day in search of a lodging for the night. 

I observed that, generally speaking, the more the 
Revolutionist is feared and sought after by the police 



234 KEYOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

the more readily is lie welcomed, concealed, and every- 
thing done for him. In the first place, a man who 
belongs to the organisation always has something inter- 
esting to inflate ; then, to conceal him gives more satis- 
faction ; for, to assist a man of great importance is, in a 
sense, to display revolutionary ' activity.' Finally, there 
is also the honour. This counts for not a little. A young 
man of a rich middle-class family said to me one day : 

' Do you know we have a sofa, an easy chair, and a 
seat upon which Geliaboff and Perovskaia sat. "We shall 
never part with them, ' he added, ' for all these things 
are "historical." ' 

VI. 

From these placid regions let us pass anew to the 
fiery zone of the Eevolution. 

I remember it was on a Tuesday. At four o'clock 
precisely, notwithstanding the most horrible weather, I 
was waiting at the railway station to meet Yaria, who 
was coming expressly to see Tania (Lebedeva).^ I shall 
be asked, perhaps, why I went to meet her ? It was for 
this reason : when anyone comes to St. Petersburg, the 
greatest difficulty is to know where to go ; which friend 
is arrested and which not ; whose house can be visited 
without falling into a trap set by the police. For these 
reasons, it is always useful and encouraging to be met 
by somebody at the station. 

1 Implicated in the Odessa railway attempt. One of the two 
women condemned to deatli in the last trial, that of the 22. 



^ A TRIP TO ST. PETEESBURG. 235 

I wished to render this service to Varia. But unfor- 
tunately she did not come. It was arranged between us 
that, in this case, I should keep the appointment with 
Tania. Two hundred roubles intended for her, which 
had been deposited with Madame Dubrovina, had to be 
handed over to her. I went there, and having obtained 
the money, kept the appointment, hoping that v/ith this 
sum Tania would be able to go into the country, or 
perhaps abroad. 

When I entered the room, Tania, together with Slo- 
bodina, her hostess, exclaimed with one voice : 

' Where is Varia ? ' 

The news that she had not come greatly agitated 
Tania. She turned pale, and for several minutes could 
not utter a word. 

I lost no time in giving her the two hundred roubles. 
But she told me she wanted eighty more, otherwise she 
could not leave, as the two hundred were intended for 
another purpose. 

The same day Michael was arrested, not in his own 
house, but while keeping an appointment. This money, 
as I learnt afterwards, she intended for the mother of 
Michael, who lived in the Caucasus, to enable her to 
come to St. Petersburg. 

I told her the matter could be arranged. Madame 
Dubrovina had always small sums of money by her, col- 
lected for the Revolution, and I could go and get some 
of it. 

*Ycs,' she said, *it is necessary. But it is better 



236 BEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

that Slobodina should go, because I have something to 
communicate to you. Meanv/hile, tell us whether you 
have not been followed.' 

Both began to ask me whether there had been 
nothing suspicious in the street, at the door, or upon 
the staircase. 

I said I had seen nothing ; but, as I was short- 
sighted, I added, my powers of observation were not to 
be trusted. 

^I am sure there was something, though you have 
seen nothing at all,' exclaimed Tania, with a gesture of 
impatience. 

Then she related to me what follows : 

' I had no sooner left the house than I saw I was 
followed by a spy. I took the ^rsi Ukhdb^ 1 met. The 
spy had to take an ordinary cab, and for a moment lost 
sight of me. But at the corner of the Basseinaia, the 
tramway stopped the traffic, and the spy, regaining lost 
ground, was at hand ready to pounce on me. AV^hen 
my Wkliac moved on again, the spy gave a whistle, and 
another person jumped into the vehicle. I ordered the 
liTchac to go to the Ligovka, then to Peski, then to St. 
Michael the Archangel, in a word, I was driven in 
various directions for at least an hour. Having assured 
myself that they had lost sight of me, I stopped before 
a tobacconist's and entered it, in order to (fliange a bank 
note and purchase a packet of cigarettes. When I left 

The name given to superior cabs with excellent horses. 



A TEIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 237 

the shop, the lilchac was by itself, and there was 
nobody in the street. I then dismissed my cab and 
came here on foot. I am not, however, sure that I was 
not followed.' 

Then she related to me what she knew about the 
arrest of Michael. As they both lived together in the 
same lodging, it was almost a mxiracle that the police 
had not arrested her also. 

Having heard all this, and knowing her antecedents, 
I begged her to leave St. Petersburg immediately. 

' No, it is impossible,' replied Tania, pensively, as 
though speaking to herself. 'The lodging must be 
cleared.' ^ 

' Cannot I clear it ? ' I asked. 

She shook her head without replying to me. 

Thereupon I told her that if she could not trust to 
my discretion to clear the room for her, she was wrong ; 
and I assured her that I would not read, or even look 
at anything, on any account whatever. I remember 
that our discussion almost ended in a quarrel. 

To say the truth, I had a horrible fear^ of going 
into their terrible den ; but I had a still greater fear of 
letting Tania go there, for the hangman's halter was 
already round her neck. This emboldened me to repeat 
my urgent appeals. 

' In the language of the Nihilists, ' to clear ' means to destroy 
or take away all papers and everything compromising. 

2 I have retained the whole of this passage exactly as it was 
written, and I ask the lady's pardon, not the reader's. 



238 KEYOLUnONAEY SKETCHES. 

'Perhaps we could go together/' I said. 'Two 
would clear the place yerj quickly, and we could go 
away quietly.' 

' ^ 0, it is impossible. Especially as I must pass the 
night there. ' 

At these words my hair stood on end. I implored 
her not to do so. I felt convinced that she would un- 
doubtedly be arrested. It seemed to me that in her 
despair she would go to her own destruction. 

For a moment I fancied she would yield to me. 
She remained thoughtful ; I began to hope. 

'No, it is impossible/ she said at last. 'If I did 
not sleep at home, the dvornilc, who comes at seven 
o'clock every morning with the water, finding nobody, 
would immediately go and inform the police. Spies 
will be placed at all the stations, and I shall undoubt- 
edly be arrested. I cannot leave to-day without first 
seeing "ours." I must pass the night at home.' 

I cannot describe my despair. 

I proposed to her that I should go and pass the 
night in place of her. Xext day, when the dvornilc 
came, I would open the door to him, and say that she 
had been taken ill, and that I had been fetched to 
attend her. He certainly would not go into her bed- 
room to convince himself. 

But Tarda rejected this proposal. I do not know 
from what motive. She, however, agreed that I should 
assist her the next day in clearing out. 

TTe arranged all the details, and the appointment 



A TEIP TO ST. PETEKSBUEG. 239 

was fixed for ten o'clock precisely at the Moghileys- 
kaia. 

She wanted to go to Moscow, and as her friends in 
that city could not be informed beforehand, she would 
have to stop at some hotel. For this, she would need 
a portmanteau, something to eat, some linen, &c., so 
that no suspicion might be aroused at the hotel where 
she stopped. I was to purchase all these things the fol- 
lowing morning, and take them to Slobodina's. 

Tania asked me to spend as little as possible, and 
Avould not let me buy her some new gloves, and a 
bonnet, although her own was an old one. A black 
crape veil, a sign of mourning, would cover up every- 
thing. 

When the details were arranged, there came the 
question of the order in which we should leave the 
house. Tania said it appeared to her that it would be 
better to show ourselves in the street both together. A 
woman who is alone, they keep their eyes on. Seeing 
two together might confuse them. We left. We had 
scarcely advanced a few steps, when a cabman drove up 
and was very anxious to take us. 

Tania said to me in a whisper, ^ He is a spy, I know 
him, you will see what a difficulty we shall have in get- 
ting away from him.' For ten minutes, in fact, he 
would not go away. 

After many turnings, we found a cab in a by-street 
with a driver dozing. Tania took the cab and departed. 
It was already very late in the evening when we sepa- 



240 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

rated. I was compelled to go to the place where I was 
to have my night's lodging, for to present one's self too 
late was not permitted. I took a cab and went straight 
to the house indicated to me. I found it by the descrip- 
tion. Naturally enough, the dvornih was seated at the 
door. It was not permitted either to ask anything or to 
look at the number of the house. Such was the regula- 
tion. I entered resolutely, without, however, being 
sure, owing to my short sight, that it was the house in- 
dicated to me. On reaching the second story I saw 
three doors. In the profound darkness I could recog- 
nised nothing, and with a trembling heart, I rang the 
first bell at haphazard. 

Great was my joy when, to the question inevitable 
then, which I put to the servant, whether such-a-one 
lived there, I saw a handsome woman appear, who said 
to me : 

'Yes, yes, it is here. Pray come in.' 

The next morning, at the hour fixed, I entered the 
Moghilevskaia. I had not yet had time to reach the po- 
sition assigned to me, when I saw Tania in front of me, 
with a basket full of vegetables in her hand, and a black 
scarf round her head, such as housewifes wear when 
they go to market. 

We proceeded towards her house. She gave me the 
key of her door, and told me to go on in front, so that 
the dvornih should not see us enter together. 

I did so. 

The lodging comprised two rooms with a kitchen. 



A TRIP TO ST. PETERSBURG. 241 

I was struck by the perfect order wliicli everywhere pre- 
Tailed. The furniture, the little parlour, the husband's 
writing-table, all had an inyiting aspect. Nothing was 
wanting. It seemed a perfect little nest of peace and 

joy. 

Tania entered a few minutes afterwards, bringing 
with her the provisions for the dinner, and lit the fire. 
All this was done for mere appearance sake — for the 
dvornik. Then she packed up the things she was to 
take away, taking only those which would not be missed, 
so as not to arouse the suspicions of the dvornih in case 
lie should enter during her absence by means of the 
double keys which, the dvornihs possess. ^ 

Before allowing me to leave, she looked into the 
courtyard to see what the dvornilcs were doing. They 
were cutting wood. 

Tania explained to me that I could pass through the 
courtyard unobserved when they took the wood to some 
tenant living upstairs. 

I did so, and left without any difficulty, with a rather 
large parcel in my hand, and having taken a cab, went 
to Slobodina's. 



^ The doorkeepers or dwrniks, who have to act as sentinels, 
night and day, at the doors of the houses, and closely watch every- 
thing, form a numerous class of parasites, whom the landlords are 
compelled to maintain. They are the terror of all the peaceful 
inmates, including the landlords, for they know they will always 
be backed up by the authorities. Their arrogance is such that in 
Moscow the dvorniks of one house gave the landlord himself a 
thrashing. 

11 



242 REVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

Having packed the portmanteau, I went to the 
station. I was to take the tickets, deliver up the lug- 
gage, and do everything, so that Tania should show 
herself as little as possible. She was not to arrive until 
ten minutes before the departure of the train, so as 
to go at once and take her place in the carriage. But 
unfortunately the train was crowded with passengers. 
There was no room left, and another carriage had to be 
put on. We passed five minutes upon the platform, 
which seemed to me an age. 

At last the carriage was attached. Tania took her 
place, and the compartment was soon filled with people. 
But they were uninteresting. Tania expressed her regret 
that she had not brought some book with her to read. 
I gave her a newspaper I had in my pocket, and told her 
that at the first large station she would be able to buy 
one. I showed her the oranges, which she was very fond 
of, I had expressly put in her bag ; but in a whisper I 
recommended her not to smoke during the journey. 

She smiled, thanked me for the oranges, and said 
that, with regard to the smoking, she could not promise. 

On leaving, when the guard called out, I uttered, I 
do not know why, some unconnected remarks. 

^ Eemember me to all at home. Kiss the little ones 
for me,' &c. 

The train left, and I gave a sigh of relief. 

She reached Moscow and remained there a short 
time. Several letters, sent by her from that city, were 
received, one of which I read. She told us in it that 



A TKIP TO ST. PETEBSBURG. 243 

there was nothing for her to do in Moscow, that she was 
utterly sick of the place, and ardently desired to return 
to St. Petersburg. 

She returned, in fact ; but I was no longer there. 
Being invited by a friend who had a landed estate in one 
of the proyinces of the Volga, I left in order to proceed 
there ; with what joy I need not say. 

Four months haying elapsed since that terrible 13th 
of March, and calmness being somewhat restored, I suc- 
ceeded, through my friend's husband, in obtaining a 
regular passport ; and thus ended my Odyssey. 



2M 



CONCLUSIOK 

I HA YE briefly related the history of the Russian Reyo- 
lutionary movement. My principal endeavour has been 
to depict its chief features, which are known to but few 
outside the organisation. 

Before taking leave of the reader, I should like now 
to cast a retrosjDective glance upon the movement as a 
whole, of which I have described some of the details 
only. 

What renders the Russian Revolutionary party en- 
tirely different from all those which at various times 
have struggled against oppression, is not the means it 
adopts — for in case of need they might be adopted by 
all — but its position towards the Government and the 
country. In this respect it stands quite alone, and 
resembles nothing in the history of other nations. 

The Russian Revolutionary movement is really a Rev- 
olution sui generis, carried on, however, not by the mass 
of the people or those feeling the need of it, but by a 
kind of delegation, acting on behalf of the mass of the 
people with this purpose. 

No one has ever undertaken, and perhaps no one 
could with any certainty, undertake to calculate the nu- 



CONCLUSION. 245 

merical strength of this party, that is to say, of those 
who share the convictions and the aspirations of the 
Eeyolutionists. All that can be said is, that it is a very 
large party, and that, at the present moment, it num- 
bers ^hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of 
men, disseminated everywhere. This mass of people, 
which might be called the ' Revolutionary nation,' does 
not, however, take a direct part in the struggle. It en- 
trusts its interests and its honour, its hatred and its ven- 
geance, to those who make the Revolution their sole and 
exclusive occupation ; for, under the conditions existing 
in Russia, people cannot remain as ordinary citizens 
and devote themselves, at the same time, to Socialism 
and the Revolution. 

The real Revolutionary party, or rather the militant 
organisation, is recruited from among this class of Revo- 
lutionary leaders. 

This organisation is limited. Nay, more ; it always 
has been, and will always be, while the present condi- 
tions of the struggle last : this is a confession I have no 
hesitation in making, and it may serve the reader as an 
illustration of my sincerity. 

In Russia the struggle is entirely and exclusively 
carried on by means of conspiracies. Macchiavelli is 
right when he says with respect to all secret societies, 
that ' the many ruin them.' By the very conditions, 
inherent in conspiracy, the more the number of the 
affiliated increases, the greater becomes the danger of 
discovery. This is a law which, although it cannot be 



246 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

reduced to exact mathematical expression, is, notwith- 
standing, as indisputable as the mechanical laws. 
Everyone who has belonged to any conspiracy, or has 
read much on the subject, knows this. I need not, 
therefore, insist on the point. 

But in Russia there are some special conditions 
which render this law still more imperious. I speak 
of the material difficulties which haye to be oyercome, 
and especially of the immense expense which has 
to be incurred, in order to keep up the militant or- 
ganisation. 

The sums spent on the yarious Terrorist undertak- 
ings, although very modest compared with the work 
done, reach, neyertheless, a considerable amount. But 
they are nothing, really nothing, compared with the 
sums which the organisation has to spend daily merely 
to maintain existence. Leading such a troubled life 
as the Russian Reyolutionists lead, with their continual 
changes of dress, of place, of lodgings — lodgings and 
furniture having frequently to be abandoned, and 
others obtained elsewhere, only to be abandoned, 
perhaps, in turn a week afterwards — leading this life, 
the expense of the struggle evidently must increase 
beyond measure. Thus it is that the ^ Revolutionary 
nation ' is only able to maintain a militant organisation, 
relatively limited, with regard to numbers. 

This process of limitation is certainly not due to set 
purpose. It arises of itself, in a very simple, although 
in a very cruel manner ; that is to say, by the killing off 



CONCLUSION. 247 

of the superfluous. The office of executioner is naturally 
taken by the Goyernment. 

By a tendency inherent in every political Secret So- 
ciety, the Revolutionary organisation endeavours to ex- 
tend itself ; to attract an ever-increasing number of 
persons ; to spread its ramifications far and wide. When 
once a certain point has been reached, however, means 
are wanting, and, as a consequence, there is an inevitable 
relaxation in the measures of security, combined with a 
certain relaxation of discipline, which always corresponds 
with the undue extension of the Secret Society. The 
inevitable result of this is a ' disaster,' a ^ deluge ; ' some 
blood-letting by the Government. 

To show that the movement really follows this fatal 
course, I need only point out that every '^deluge ' has 
fallen upon us at the very moment when the organisa- 
tion was most flourishing. Every Russian who has 
been in any way connected with it will admit this fact. 

The arrests certainly do not merely curtail what may 
be called the redundancy of the organisation. They al- 
ways go beyond that. They are like hot words — one 
leads to another. 

But here is another fact, eminently characteristic. 
However great may be the partial reverse inflicted upon 
the organisation, the Government can never succeed in 
destroying it entirely. Some of it still remains stand- 
ing, and keeps up its old traditions and connections. 
Thus, some two months after the most terrible 'deluge,' 
the organisation is formed anew, as though nothing had 



248 KEYOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

happened ; for meanwhile a little ' levy ' has been made ; 
fresh champions enter in place of the fallen, and the 
equilibrium being re-established between numbers and 
material means, together with discipline, the organisa- 
tion remains intact for awhile, continuing thus the 
struggle, momentarily interrupted, until, having unduly 
increased again, by a tendency unavoidable in an active 
society, a fresh ' deluge ' comes, and some more blood- 
letting. 

Thus the organisation, although it may increase as 
the strength of the party increases, which is undeniable, 
always remains very modest with regard to numbers. 

II. 

In speaking of Secret Societies, the Florentine Sec- 
retary not only says that 'the many ruin them,' but also 
that 'the few are not enough.' 

That in Eussia the few are 'enough,' and in a some- 
what terrible manner, needs no proof of mine here. 

How, therefore, is this extraordinary fact to be ex- 
plained ? 

It is explained by the devotion, by the moral eleva- 
tion, by the energy of these heroic combatants, as I 
have endeavoured to show in my book. 

But this would not suffice, some will urge, to sustain 
for so many years such a terrible struggle. Miracles of 
heroism would be needed. Now miracles no longer be- 
long to our days, or at least nobody believes in them. 



CONCLUSION. 249 

How does it happen, therefore ? There must be some- 
thing else below the surface. 

This something is the almost complete isolation of 
the Eussian GoTernment. 

Autocracy in the latter part of the Nineteenth 
Century in a country in constant communication with 
Europe, where the cultiyated classes receive a thoroughly 
European education — autocracy in such a country is so 
monstrous, that, except those having a personal interest 
in it, no one, certainly, can honestly defend it. Hence 
arises a covert opposition almost universal among all 
classes of society, however little educated ; an opposi- 
tion which, notwithstanding the rigours of the Censor- 
ship and the arbitrary acts of the administration, mani- 
fests itself in a manner so clear and palpable, that one 
must turn a deaf ear indeed, as the Imperial Govern- 
ment does, not to hear something about it. We have 
but to read the addresses of the Provincial Assemblies 
(Zemstvos), and to examine the Eussian newspapers of 
the last few years, to convince ourselves how ardently 
the whole of Eussian society longs for certain political 
rights, such as freedom of speech and of the press, the 
inviolability of the subject, and of the domicile, the 
national representation — everything, in short, expressed 
in that very modest word. Constitution. 

Now in the programme of the Eussian Socialists of 

the last five years, as I have said in my Introduction, a 

very important change appears. Having begun by 

maintaining with the extreme party of the ' Inter- 
11* 



250 REVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

nationale ' called the Anarchical party, that the 
Socialists should abstain from all participation in the 
political struggle, the Russian Socialists, by the inex- 
orable logic of events, have had to learn, at their own 
expense, that political liberty is not only useful, but 
indispensable for the Socialist, as for everyone who has 
any convictions to enforce, or any ideas to propagate 
among his fellow citizens. They have had to recognise 
that, without these elementary rights. Socialism will 
never emerge beyond the narrow limits of the Secret 
Societies, and will never be able to exercise a decisive 
influence upon the convictions of the masses. 

There being no other party in Eussia capable of 
engaging in the struggle with Despotism, the Russian 
Socialists resolved to undertake it on their own account. 
As in Russia, as I have shown in my Introduction, an 
insurrection in the European manner is absolutely im- 
possible, the Socialists had recourse to Terrorism ; to a 
conflict with the autocrat in person, in order to render 
his life a torment and a weariness to him, and his posi- 
tion intolerable, shameful, ridiculous ; so that from 
very dread of the derision cast upon his pretended un- 
limited power, he should resolve to yield to the legiti- 
mate and very modest aspirations of the entire nation. 

The aspirations of the Socialists, and those of the 
whole of Russian society met, thus, at this point, and 
the Terrorists did nothing more than proclaim aloud, 
amid the reports and flames of their explosions, what 
everybody either thought, or whispered with a hesitating 



CONCLUSION. 251 

and timid Toice, amid a deluge of adulation and general 
compulsory reticence. 

"What the Revolutionists could not but gain from 
this condition of things may be easily imagined. They 
acquired the inestimable moral advantage which the 
support of public opinion gives. Among the more 
courageous, this support was certainly not confined to 
words alone. 

But even those who were opposed to them, fearing 
their subversive principles, would not in any way lend 
their support to the G-overnment, though it might ask 
for such support in almost supplicating tones. The 
reply which, after every fresh attempt, Russian Society 
gave through the Provincial Assemblies and the Press to 
these repeated supplications was always the same : ' We 
are ready to assist you against the Socialists, but give us 
for this the necessary means, that is, freedom of speech 
and a national representation ; then we will willingly 
clear the ground for you. Until we possess these means, 
we are powerless to do anything for you'.' The reply, 
to say the truth, was not a very noble one, but I give it 
exactly as it was formulated. 

The Government did not agree to these terms, and 
gave it to be understood that the assistance it required 
from society was simply that of acting the part of the 

spy- 
But society would not agree to this. 
The Government remained thus completely isolated, 

and in this manner the struggle between it and the Ter- 



252 EEVOLUTIOXAHY SKETCHES. 

rorists, though always terribly unequal, is not so much 
so as might be belieyed at a distance. 

This is the secret which explains quite naturally the 
miracle of the Terroristic struggle. 

If the Government were not in such flagrant contra- 
diction with society, such a struggle would be absolutely 
impossible; for society would not remain indifferent, 
but would act as one man against the disturbers of its 
quiet J and crush them in an instant. 

One thing is as clear as the sun at noonday. Where 
do the Terrorists liye, if not in the ranks of society ? 
"With whom are they in daily communication, if not 
with its members ? If they were mere ordinary delin- 
quents who disturbed public order for their own ad- 
vantage, society would hand them over, bound hand and 
foot, to the representatives of power. If it had scruples 
about doing this, it would have suppressed them all the 
same, simply by withdrawing from them its assistance. 
Where would the Terrorists obtain means ? Where 
would they hide themselves ? Where would they obtain 
reinforcements ? I do not speak of the weight of the 
disapproval, universal, sincere, and resolute, which would 
be decisive in a question bound up with the most direct 
interests of society itself, of which it cannot be said, as 
of the people, that it does not understand what it says 
or does. But for what purpose should Eussian society 
assist a Governmeat detested by everybody ? Thus, 
notwithstanding its compulsory protests of devotion, 
society remains with its arras folded, to see what the 



CONCLUSION. 253 

Terrorists will do. In secret it rubs its hands, and not 
only does not denounce the Terrorists, but willingly 
assists them, if not restrained by fear, because it feels 
that they are working for its own advantage. 

The isolation of the Eussian Government can only 
be compared with that of a hated foreigner in a con- 
quered country. The best proof of this is, as I have 
already said, its inability to overcome the Terrorists. 
To illustrate this, however, I will relate a few little in- 
cidents of revolutionary life. 

It must be admitted, to begin with, that, as conspir- 
ators, the Eussian Eevolutionists, with few exceptions, 
are not worth much. The Eussian disposition, gener- 
ous, listless, undisciplined ; the love of openness ; the 
habit of doing everything ^ in common,' render it little 
adapted to conform to the vital principle of conspiracy ; 
to tell what is to be told only to those to whom it is 
essential to tell it, and not to those to whom it may 
merely be told without danger. Examples such as 
Perovskaia or Stefanovic are very rare among the Eus- 
sians. Thus, the revolutionary secrets are usually very 
badly kept, and no sooner have they passed out of the 
organisation than they spread abroad with incredible 
rapidity throughout the Nihilist world, and not unfre- 
quently pass from city to city. Notwithstanding this, 
the Government never knows anything. 

Thus, before the publication of the newspaper 
' Zemlia i Volia,' conducted by ' illegal ' men, a secret 
Eevolutionary and Socialist journal was issued in St. 



254 EEVOLUTIOXAEY SKETCHES. 

Petersburg, — ^Xacialo,' which was not the organ of the 
organisation, but of an isolated ^ Circle,' and its conduc- 
tors were four or five Megal' men. All St. Petersburg 
knew them, and could name them. But the police, al- 
though they were run ofi their legs in search of traces 
of this newspaT)er, knew nothing, and never learnt any- 
thing about it ; so that some of the conductors of the 
paper, who have not been compromised in other matters, 
remain safe and sound to this day. 

The sale of the most terrible of the Terrorist papers, 
the ^^arodnaia Yolia,' is carried on in St. Petersburg 
in the most simple manner imaginable ; in every higher 
school, in every class of society, and in all the principal 
proTincial towns, there are men, known to everybody, 
who undertake this commission ; and receiving a cer- 
tain number of the copies of the paper, sell it to every- 
body who wants it, at twenty-five kopecks the number 
in St. Petersburg, and thirty-five in the provinces. 

Here is another fact, which will seem much more 
strange, but which, notwithstanding, is perfectly true. 

The immense dynamite conspiracy, organised by the 
Executive Committee in 1879, for the Emperors jour- 
ney to and from St. Petersburg and the Crimea, perhaps 
the greatest undertaking ever organised by a Secret So- 
ciety : this conspiracy was on too grand a scale to be car- 
ried out by the forces of the organisation alone ; outsiders 
had therefore to be taken from that vast world around 
it which is always ready to render it any kind of ser- 
vice. It is not to be wondered at that, with so many 



CONCLUSION. 255 

people, the secret of the attempts in preparation should 
leak out, and quickly spread throughout all Eussia. The 
precise places were not known, certainly ; but every 
student, every barrister, every writer not in the pay of 
the police, knew that ^ the Imperial train would be blown 
up during the journey from the Crimea to St. Petersburg.' 
It Avas talked about ^everywhere,' as the phrase runs. 
In one city a stibscription was even got up, almost 
publicly, for this purpose, and about 1,500 roubles were 
collected, all of which were paid into the coffers of the 
Committee. 

Yet the police knew nothing. Of the six attempts 
belonging to that period, one alone was discovered, that 
of Logovenco, by mere chance. The arrest of Golden- 
berg with a supply of dynamite, which also occurred 
by mere chance, at the Elisabetgrad Station, was the 
circumstance which, aroused suspicion that something 
was in preparation, and caused precautions to be taken 
in the arran2:ements of the trains. 

These facts, and others of the same kind, which I 
could mtiltiply indefinitely, give an idea, it appears to 
me, of the respective positions of the Government and 
the Revolutionists. 

The Terrorists have before them, not a Government 
in the European sense of the word — for then, owing to 
the disproportion of strength, the struggle wotild be 
impossible — but a camarilla, a small and isolated fac- 
tion, which represents only its own interests, and is not 
supported by any class of society. 



256 EEVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

Thus the struggle, although extremely difficult, 
becomes possible, and may last for years and years. 

III. 

What will be the end ? 

That depends upon the line of conduct adopted by 
the Government. 

One thing is evident ; it will never succeed in put- 
ting down the Terrorism by retaliation. Precisely be- 
cause they are few, the Terrorists will remain invin- 
cible. A victory obtained over a Revolution like that 
of Paris, gives to the conqueror at least ten or fifteen 
years of peace ; for with a hundred thousand victims, 
all that is noblest, most generous, and boldest in a 
nation is exterminated, and it languishes until a fresh 
generation arises to avenge its slaughtered fathers. But 
what avails in a country like Russia, the loss of a hand- 
ful of men, which from time to time the Government 
succeeds in snatching from the ranks of the organi- 
sation ? 

The survivors will continue the struggle with an 
ardour increased by the desire of vengeance. The 
universal discontent will provide them with pecuniary 
means. The young men, animated as they are by the 
example of so many heroes, are near to supply an 
immense and inexhaustible source of new recruits ; . and 
the struggle will continue still more fiercely. 

But if the Terrorists cannot be overcome, how are 
they to overcome the Government ? 



CONCLUSION. 257 

A yictory, immediate, splendid, and decisive, sucli 
as that obtained by an insurrection, is utterly impossi- 
ble by means of Terrorism. But another yictory is more 
probable, that of the weak against the strong, that of 
the ^ beggars ' of Holland against the Spaniards. In a 
struggle against an invisible, impalpable, omnipresent 
enemy, the strong is vanquished, not by the arms of 
his adversary, but by the continuous tension of his own 
strength, which exhausts him, at last, more than he 
would be exhausted by defeats. 

Such is precisely the position of the belligerent 
parties in Eussia. 

The Terrorists cannot overthrow the Government, 
cannot drive it from St. Petersburg and Eussia; but 
having compelled it, for so many years running, to 
neglect everything and do nothing but struggle with 
them, by forcing it to do so still for years and years, 
they will render its position untenable. Already the 
prestige of the Imperial Government has received a 
wound which it will be very difficult to heal. An Em- 
peror who shuts himself up in a prison from fear of the 
Terrorists, is certainly not a figure to inspire admiration. 

On this point I could already cite many things 
which circulate in the army, and among the people. 
What will be said if he remains shut up another year 
or two ? And how can he do otherwise than remain 
shut up if he continues his policy ? 

But it is not on the moral side alone that the Gov- 
ernment is the worse off. 



258 REVOLUTIONAEY SKETCHES. 

In this struggle between liberty and despotism, tbe 
Revolutionists, it must be confessed, have on their side 
an immense advantage, that of time. Every month, 
every week, of this hesitation, of this irresolution, of 
this enervating tension, renders the position of their 
adversary worse, and consequently strengthens their own. 
Hidden forces, unconscious and powerful as those of nat- 
ure, come into play to undermine the basis of the Im- 
perial edifice ; such as the economical position of the 
people, which has reached such a terrible crisis ; the 
financial question, and also that of the adminstrative 
corruption, which is almost as fatal as the other two. 

But the new Emperor wishes to improve the condi- 
tion of the people. He strives to purge his Adminis- 
tration of robbery and corruption. 

Vain and ridiculous attempts ! nay, even hypocrit- 
ical. Has not this been the golden dream of all the 
Emperors, commencing with Peter the Great ? Have 
not the same ukases against corruption been repeated in 
almost the same words ? Why have they not succeeded ? 
Because the Emperors wanted to do everything by 
themselves, that is, by means of this very bureaucracy, 
surrendering nothing whatever of their own autocratic 
power. 

The people themselves, rendered the arbitrators of 
their own destinies, can alone improve their own condi- 
tion ; society having at its disposal a free Press can alone 
watch over and redress the abuses of the Administration. 
These are truths which every schoolboy knows. 



CONCLUSION. 259 

If none of the previous Emperors have been able to 
succeed under much better conditions, how can Alexan- 
der III. succeed under the present conditions ? 

Meanwhile the State is not waiting. The discontent 
increases ; the condition of the people grows worse ; the 
financial and administratiye disorder increases. And 
the Terrorists paralyse the Government by their mere 
presence alone ; merely by giving signs of life from 
time to time. 

But they also know how to gain terrible victories, 
as they have clearly shown. 

The position is untenable, and the sooner the Gov- 
ernment issues from it the better for the Government. 

By yielding to the legitimate requests of the nation, 
by conceding the most elementary political rights 
demanded by the times in which we live, and by 
civilisation, everything will enter upon a peaceful and 
regular course. The Terrorists will be the first to throw 
down their deadly weapons, and take up the most hu- 
mane, and the most powerful of all, those of free speech 
addressed to free men, as they have several times ex- 
plicitly declared.^ 

They will do so, and will be compelled to do so, for 
they would not be able to exist for a single day if, in 
a free country, they wished to continue the course hith- 
erto followed. 

1 See in the Note the letter of the Executive Committee to Alex- 
ander III., which we recommend to the special attention of the 
reader. 



260 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

Sucli is the best solution of the present crisis in 
Russia. 

It remains to be seen whether the Grovernment will 
have sufficient intelligence and moral courage to adopt 
this course. 

If it does not, what will happen ? 

It is difficult to foresee, for the Eevolution, especially 
the Eussian Revolution, is a strangely fantastic monster, 
and there are no means of divining where it will stop, or 
the leaps it may still take, if the whim seizes it. 

That the movement cannot stop is beyond all doubt. 
It has taken a development too great to end by bursting 
like a soap bubble. Its forces represented, not by the 
militant organisation, which is only the external and 
temporary manifestation of them, but by the ardour of 
thousands upon thousands of men ; by the eager univer- 
sal desire to issue from the shameful and humiliating 
position in which we have been placed by Despotism ; 
by the hatred, by the vengeance, by the revolutionary 
enthusiasm which the Government by its executions and 
its retaliation has succeeded in developing so powerfully 
among the flower of the nation, that is to say, the young 
men — these forces will need some outlet ; a necessity 
rather mechanical than philosophical. Men willing and 
able to direct them will always be found. 

Something assuredly will happen if the Revolution 
loses patience, or the hope of succeeding by the less fero- 
cious means which it has at his disposal — the present 
political terror. 



CONCLUSION. 261 

Of what nature it will- be it is impossible to foretell. 
Urged by a purely humane sentiment, I will point out 
some of the eventualities which present themselves to 
me as probable, having regard to antecedent facts and 
the present disposition of the party ; my object simply 
being to enlighten public opinion and prevent, if possi- 
ble, those painful eventualities from being realised. 

The first is what I should term Administrative ter- 
ror, directed against the whole body of Government 
officials. The party has made a trial of this, but only 
partially, and the experiment rather assumed the char- 
acter of a political demonstration without aiming at the 
overthrow of the Imperial Administration by terror, and 
in this manner rendering the Government powerless. ' 

The effect would be certain, like that of laming the 
horse of a mediaeval knight, incapable of moving by his 
own exertions. In the year 1878, the party was too 
weak to undertake such a vast struggle. I^ow, being 
immensely strengthened,' it could easily make the at- 
tempt. All Eussia would then be strewn with dead 
bodies, for the Governors^ the Gendarmes, the Procura- 
tors, the Judges, could not all have their Gatchina. It 
would be a terrible, a grievous thing ; but it has already 
been talked about. 

But there is another eventuality more terrible still, 
which has already been the subject of much ^gossip,' 
and the gossip of the Eussian Eevolutionary world is 

' It should, however, be pointed out that for some time at Kieff 
it really had this result. (See the Two Escapes.) 



262 REVOLUTIONARY SKETCHES. 

not to be laughed at, for it soon finds expression in acts. 
Thus, for two years there was gossip about the Teiror- 
ism, and throughout 1878 there was gossip about Czar- 
icide. What followed everybody knows. 

There are whispers now of the agrarian Terror. 
The agricultural class, the worst off, and the only very 
large class in Kussia, is like a latent and mysterious 
volcano, upon the edge of which the oppressors are 
heedlessly dancing. By the irony of events this class 
sides, not with the Emperor, but with an Imperial 
myth, which is utterly unreal and therefore has no 
practical value. The peasant cherishes a profound and 
implacable hatred against the entire order of the State, 
which is simply the emanation of the power of the 
Emperor himself ; against the bureaucracy ; against the 
landowners ; against the priests who have sworn fidelity 
to the Government ; against all the * lords,' that is, 
those who dress in the ' German,' or European manner ; 
in a word, against everjrthing which has caused him so 
many ages of suffering. This class is so desperate, so 
unfortunate, so miserable, that it only needs a spark to 
make its hatred burst out into an immense flame which 
would destroy the entire edifice of the State, and mod- 
ern economical order, and with it, also, everything bear- 
ing the impress of civilisation. It would be a universal 
cataclysm, terrible indeed, but still preferable to linger- 
ing death under the heels of Despotism. 

It must not be forgotten that all those who are now 
struggling against autocracy, in order to obtain political 



CONCLUSION. 263 

liberty are Socialists. They have never ceased to carry 
on the Socialist propaganda, secretly, among the work- 
ing men of the towns. The proof that their efforts have 
not been unavailing is the considerable number of work- 
ing men among those accused and convicted in the Ter- 
rorist trials of the last three years. Mostly, however, 
these working men, like their comrades of the culti- 
vated classes, have hitherto confined themselves to the 
exclusively political struggle with the Imperial Govern- 
ment, so as to render it possible to proceed afterwards 
to the social regeneration of the country, by peaceful 
and regular means. 

The present Terrorism has already done much to 
hasten the Revolution. But what will happen if these 
multitudes of men, ready for anything, should pour intq 
the country districts, armed with everything which the 
murderous science of the Nihilists and their revolution- 
ary skill can supply them with, and commence a strug- 
gle, like that in Ireland, with the landlords and the 
absolutely defenceless officials of the rural police, sum- 
moning the people to the work of universal destruc- 
tion ? 

Who can foresee, or rather, not forsee, the conse- 
quences of this Agrarian Terrorism, about which there 
has already been so much ^ gossip '? 

Then, too, there are the Palace plots, and the Coups 
d'Etat of the military commanders. These certainly 
form a third eventuality, which may be concurrent with 
the other two, or even precede them. They are not 



264 EEVOLUTIONAKY SKETCHES. 

directly connected with the Terrorism, but are the 
natural consequence of it. Even now the Imj)erial 
Government is the mere sport of Court factions ; a few 
years, a few months, perhaps, and fresh blows of the 
Terrorists will weaken it still more, and then in St. 
Petersburg, as" in ancient Kome and Byzantium, as in 
every decaying despotic monarchy, there will arise 
among the courtiers and generals of the army, some 
modern Sejanns who will seek to profit by this to fur- 
ther his own ambition. Perhaps even sooner than is 
thought in Europe, we shall see repeated in St. Peters- 
burg the revolts of the Praetorians, or. those of the 
Streltzi, to cite an illustration from our own history. 
Of what kind they will be, it is impossible to foretell. 
Probably they will be of all kinds. If allied with the >^ 
1 / Nihilists, they will give liberty to the country ; if the \ 
instrument of the ' Holy League,' at the head of which I 
is the Grand Duke Vladimir, already suspected of wish- 
ing to dethrone his brother, there will only be an ex- 
change of despots. In any case, it is more than probable 
that, with the sanguinary traditions established by the 
Terrorists, these convulsions will be anything rather 
than of a gentle character. Who knows whether they 
will not resemble Oriental rather than European con- 
vulsions ? 

Such is the sad future which the Emperor Alexander 
III., with his insensate obstinacy, is preparing for Kus- 
sia, and for his own family, a future which ere long he 
himself will be powerless to avert. 



265 



NOTE. 

The important document published by the Executive Committee 
on March 10, (23) 1881, that is to say, ten days after the Czar 
Alexander II. had been put to death, will serve as the best proof 
of what I have said respecting the actual aspirations of the Russian 
Revolutionary and Socialist party. It was reproduced in but few 
newspapers, and not without some errors caused by the double 
translation from French or German. 

The reader will see how moderate are the conditions which 
these so-called sanguinary men offer to the Government, not for 
the cessation of the struggle — for that would be mere hypocrisy, 
since no democratic party, however moderate, can see in political 
liberty the universal panacea for the evils which afflict the working 
classes — but for the complete abandonment of those violent and 
sanguinary means which the party is now compelled to adopt, 
solely because the Government prevents it from employing pacific 
means to secure the emancipation of the largest and most unhappy 
class of mankind. 

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER III. 

'Your Majesty, — The Executive Committee thoroughly under- 
stands the mental prostration you must now be experiencing. It 
does not, however, consider that it should from a feeling of deli- 
cacy, defer the following declaration. There is something higher 
even than legitimate human feeling ; it is the duty towards our 
country, a duty to which every citizen should sacrifice himself, his 
own feelings, and even those of others. Impelled by this imperi- 
ls 



266 NOTE. 

ous duty, we address ourselves to you without delay, as the course 
of events which threatens us with terrible convulsions, and rivers 
of blood in the future, will suffer no delay. 

* The sanguinary tragedy on the Catherine canal was no mere 
chance occurrence, and could have surprised no one. After what 
has happened during the last ten years, it appeared inevitable ; 
and therein lies its profound significance, which should be thor- 
oughly understood by him whom destiny has placed at the head of 
a State. 

' Only a man utterly incapable of analysing the life of the 
people, can characterise such occurrences as the crimes of individ- 
uals, or even of a " band." During an entire decade, we have seen 
that the Revolutionary movement, notwithstanding the sternest 
persecution, notwithstanding the sacrifice by the late Czar's Gov- 
ernment of everything, liberty, and the interests of all classes of 
the people, and of industry, nay, even of its own personal dignity ; 
notwithstanding, in a word, all the measures adopted to suppress 
it, the Revolutionary movement continued to increase; the best 
forces of the country, the most energetic men in Russia, and the 
most willing to make sacrifices, came forward to swell its ranks. 
For three whole years the desperate war has lasted between it and 
the Government. 

' Your Majesty will admit that the Government of the late 
Emperor cannot be accused of " want of energy." The innocent 
and the guilty were hanged alike; the prisons, like the remotest 
provinces, were filled with the condemned. The so-called " leaders " 
were taken and hanged by the dozen. 

' They died tranquilly and with the calmness of martyrs ; but 
this did not stop the movement ; on the contrary, the movement 
increased and continually gained in strength. A Revolutionary 
movement, your Majesty, does not depend on individuals. It is a 
process of the social organism, and against it the gibbets erected 
for the most energetic representatives of that process are as 



NOTE. 267 

powerless to save the existing order of things as the punishment 
of the cross, inflicted upon the Nazarene, was powerless to save 
the decaying ancient world from the triumph of reforming Chris- 
tianity. 

' The Government may continue to Arrest and hang as long as 
it likes, and may succeed in oppressing single Revolutionary 
bodies. We will even admit that it may succeed in destroying 
the essential organisation of the Revolution. But this will not 
change the state of things. Revolutionists will be created by 
events ; by the general discontent of the whole of the people ; 
by the tendency of Russia towards new social forms. 

' An entire nation cannot be suppressed ; and still less can the 
discontent of a nation be suppressed by rigorous measures. 
These, instead, will increase its bitterness, its energy, and its 
forces. The latter, naturally, will be better organised, profiting 
by the experience of those who have preceded them. Thus, 
with the progress of time, the Revolutionary organisations cannot 
but increase in number and in efl3.ciency. This was precisely our 
case. What advantage did the Government derive from the 
suppression of the " Dolguscinzi," the " Ciaikovzi," the Propa- 
gandists of 1874 ? Other and more resolute leaders of the party 
came and took their places. 

' The rigours of the Government after 1878 and 1879 gave 
birth to the Terrorists. In vain the Government slaughtered 
Kovalsky, Dubrovin, Ossinsky, Lisogub ; in vain did it crush 
and destroy dozens of Revolutionary bodies. For this imperfect 
organisation more strongly constituted bodies were substituted by 
a species of "natural selection." At last the Executive Committee 
appeared, against which the Government still struggles in vain. 

'If we cast an impartial glance upon the last sorrowful de- 
cade, we may unmistakably and easily foresee what will be the 
future of the Revolutionary movement should the policy of the 
Government not change. It will increase ; it will extend ; the 



268 NOTE. 

acts of the Terrorists will be felt more acutely ; the Revolu- 
tionary organisation will take a more perfect and a stronger form. 
Meanwhile there will continually be fresh cause for discontent ; 
the confidence of the people in the Government will go on 
diminishing. The idea of the Revolution, its possibility and 
inevitableness, will constantly gain ground. 

* A terrible explosion, a sanguinary Revolution, a spasmodic 
convulsion throughout all Russia, will complete the destruction 
of the old order of things. 

' Your Majesty, this is a sad and frightful prospect. Yes, sad 
and frightful. Do not believe that these are mere words. We 
feel more than anybody what a calamity the loss will be of so 
much talent and energy in the work of destruction and in san- 
guinary encounters, at a time when the same forces under other 
circumstances might be devoted to fruitful labours, to the develop- 
ment of the popular intelligence, to the general welfare. 

' But why the sad necessity for this sanguinary struggle ? 

* For this reason, your Majesty ; that a just Government, in 
the true sense of the word, does not exist among us. A Govern- 
ment should, in conformity with the essential principle of its 
existence, be the expression of the aspirations of the people, should 
carry out only the will of the people. "With us, however — pardon 
us for saying so — the Government is a perfect camarilla, and 
deserves the name of a " band of usurpers " much more than the 
Executive Committee deserves it. 

* Whatever may be the intentions of the Emperor, the actions 
of the Government have no concern with the aspirations and the 
welfare of the people. 

' The Imperial Government had already deprived the people of 
personal liberty, and made them the slaves of the class of the 
nobles. ' It now creates the pernicious class of the speculators and 

1 Referring to the decrees of the Czars Boris and Alexis (XVI.-XVII-) wMcli 
Alexander II. only partly annulled. 



NOTE. 269 

usurers. All the reforms only end in rendering the people worse 
off than before. The Government in Russia has gone so far, has 
reduced the masses to such poverty and misery, that they are not 
even free to act for their common interests, are not secure against 
the most infamous inquisition, even in their very homes. 

' Only the blood-sucking officials, whose knavish exactions re- 
main unpunished, enjoy the protection of the Government and the 
laws. 

* How frightful, on the other hand, is the fate of an upright 
man who labours for the common welfare ! Your Majesty, you 
yourself well know that it is not the Socialists alone who are perse- 
cuted and transported. 

'What kind of Government is this, which maintains such 
** order" ? Is it not really a band of usurpers ? 

' This is why the Government in Russia has no moral influence 
over the people ; this is why Russia produces so many Revolution- 
ists ; this is why even an event like the killing of the Czar excites 
sympathy among a great part of this very people. Pay no heed to 
flatterers, your Majesty. Regicide in Russia is very popular. 

* There are only two outlets from such a situation ; either a 
Revolution, which will neither be averted nor prevented by con- 
demnations to death, or the spontaneous surrender of supreme 
authority to the people to assist in the work of government. 

' In the interests of the country, and to avoid a useless waste of 
talent and energy, and those terrible disasters by which the Revolu- 
tion is always accompanied, the Executive Committee addresses 
itself to your Majesty and counsels you to select the latter course. 
Be sure of this, that directly the highest power ceases to be arbi- 
trary, directly it shows itself firmly resolved to carry out only what 
the will and the conscience of the people prescribes, you will be 
able to get rid of your spies, who dishonour the Government, dis- 
miss your escorts to their barracks, and burn the gibbets, which 
demoralise the people. 



270 NOTE. 

' Then the Executive Committee will spontaneously suspend its 
own activity, and the forces it has organised will disband and 
devote themselves to the fruitful work of civilisation, culture, and 
the welfare of the people. 

' A pacific struggle of ideas will take the place of the violence 
which is much more repugnant to us than to your servitors, and to 
which we arc now compelled to have recourse solely by necessity. 

*We address ourselves to your Majesty, dismissing the preju- 
dice and mistrust inspired by the past. We will forget that you 
are the representative of that power which has deceived the people 
and done them so much injury. We address ourselves to you as to 
a fellow citizen and honest man. 

' We liope that personal resentment will not suppress in you, 
either the sentiment of duty or the desire of hearing the truth. 

' We also might feel icsentmcnt. You have lost your father : 
we have lost, not only our fathers, but our brothers, wives, sons, 
and best friends. Xevertheless, we are ready to forget all personal 
rancour, if the welfare of Russia demands it, and we expect as 
much from you. 

* We impose upon you no conditions of any kind. Do not 
take offence at our proposals. The conditions which are necessary 
in order that the Revolutionary movement should give place to a 
paciiic development have not been created by us, but by events. 
We simply record them. These conditions, according to our view, 
should be based upon two principal stipulations. 

' First, a general amnesty for all political offenders, since they 
have committed no crime, but have simply done their duty as 
citizens . 

' Second, tlie convocation of the representatives of the whole 
of the people, for the examination of the best forms of social and 
political life, according to the wants and desires of the people. 

' We, nevertheless, consider it necessary to point out that the 
legalisation of power by the representation of the people can only 



NOTE. 271 

be arrived at when the elections are perfectly free. The elections 
should, therefore, take place under the following conditions : 

'First, the deputies shall be chosen by all classes without 
distinction, in proportion to the number of inhabitants. 

' Second, there shall be no restriction of any kind upon electors 
or deputies. 

Third, the elections and the electoral agitation shall be per- 
fectly free. The Government will, therefore, grant as provisional 
regulations, until the convocation of the popular assemblies: 

(a) Complete freedom of the press. 

(&) Complete freedom of speech. 

(c) Complete freedom of public meeting. 

(d) Complete freedom of electoral addresses. 

' These are the only means by which Russia can enter upon 
the path of peaceful and regular development. We solemnly de- 
clare, before the country, and before the whole world, that our 
party will submit unconditionally to the National Assembly which 
meets upon the basis of the above conditions, and will offer no 
opposition to the Government which the National Assembly may 
sanction. 

'And now, your Majesty, decide. The choice rests with you. 
We, on our side, can only express the hope that your judgment 
and your conscience will suggest to you the only decision which 
can accord with the welfare of Russia, with your own dignity, and 
with your duties towards the country. 

' The Executive Committee. 

'March 10 (23), 1881.' 

Printed at the office of the JVarodnaia Volia, March 12 (23), 1881. 

Such were the proposals then made by the Revolutionary party 
to the Government, and they have been several times repeated, 
even in the last number of the ' Narodnaia Volia' (March 1882). 

The Government replied by fresh executions, by again exiling 



272 NOTE. 

thousands to Siberia, by fresh rigours against the press, and 
against every liberal tendency. 

The impartial reader will judge, therefore, who are the parti- 
sans of justice, moderation, and order, and who are the true ' dis- 
turbers of public tranquillity/ 



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743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



Communism and Socialism 

IN THEIR HISTORY AND THEORY. 

A SKETCH 
By THEODORE D. WOOLSEY, D.D., LL.D. 



One Volume, 12mo, $1.50. 



This book is the only comprehensive review of its subject, within 
small compass, yet exactly meeting the needs of the reader, that is acces- 
sible in English. The candor of the discussion is remarkable; the book is 
the argument of a perfectly fair reasoner, painting nothing in too dark 
colors, but taking his opponents at their best. It maybe safely prophesied 
that beyond the large audience which will take up this thoroughly ex- 
cellent little volume for purposes of study, there will be a still wider one 
who will read it from pure interest in the history of communities and 
social experiments, from the Essenes and Therapeutse down to the Inter- 
national. 

CRITICAIi NOTICES, 

" The calm, thoughtful, and logical view this volume takes of the sub- 
ject should recommend it to the attention of readers of every degree." — 
Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

•'The work is an epitome of the whole history of the socialistic and 
communistic movement, and will prove a most valuable text-book to uU 
who have not made themselves familiar with this great subject. " — A'. Y. 
Co7nmercial Advertiser. 

"Altogether, this little book contains a completer view of the compli- 
cated forms of socialism than can be elsewhere found within similar com- 
pass, and may safely be taken as a guide by students and thinkers of all 
shades of opinion. " — ^V. Y. Herald. 

"The discussion of the history and theory of the various forms of 
communism and socialism contained in this volume is marked by the com- 
prehensive research, clearness of perception, sobriety of judgment, and 

fairness of statement characteristic of the author No previous 

writer on the subject has exhibited so clear a perception of the vital points 
at issue, or has offered more sound and wholesome counsels in regard to 
their treatment."— A^. Y. Tribune. 



-;f^* Por sale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, upon receipt of 
trice^ by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New York. 



TEPHIAI 



